Waterproof Podcast is now available

The Waterproof Podcast

Waterproof is the six-part Partners for Water podcast that travels the globe sharing uplifting stories about how today’s water crises are being tackled through smart ideas, local knowledge and international partnerships. Hosted by water expert Tracy Metz, Waterproof delves into six crucial water themes with local and international experts, researchers, practitioners and other water professionals.

How to listen: you can listen to the Waterproof podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and on this page.

• Save the Podcast on Spotify
• Save the Podcast on Apple Podcasts

Following each episode, listeners can participate in live Meetups with other water professionals to go deeper into the themes. Please check out the different locations of the live Meetups below. Sign up and join the conversation with us.

Episode 3: Locals in the Lead

Too often, water management and infrastructure solutions are developed based on assumptions about local communities’ needs, rather than through active listening to their concerns. This results in solutions that fail to foster local ownership and overlook valuable community knowledge, ultimately leading to unsustainable water projects. Working closely with local people and partners, incorporating both their needs and expertise,  is critical to the success of long-term water projects. Partners for Water encourages this approach through multidisciplinary methods and collaborative efforts with local communities and stakeholders.

In the episode on locally led development, you will explore various approaches and examples of locally led water projects, with Shahnoor Hasan from Deltares, Chris Zevenbergen from the TU Delft, Professor Kwasi Appeaning Addo from the Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies in Ghana, Marieke van Nood from World Waternet and Floris Boogaard from Hanze Hogeschool and Deltares

• Airs on: 9 January 2025 
• Meetup: 16 January 2025, Social Impact Factory, Vredenburg 40, Utrecht

Episode 4: Build-Neglect-Repair-Repeat

Water management and infrastructure are essential for society as their operational durability directly impacts the resilience of livelihoods and economies. Despite their crucial role, proper operation and long-term maintenance are often overlooked, leading to the costly ‘Build-Neglect-Repair’ (BNR) cycle prevalent in the international water sector. Partners for Water recognises the urgent need to shift toward sustainable design, financing and management practices in water infrastructure and is committed to understanding the root causes of the BNR cycle and collaborating with partners to implement more sustainable practices.

In this ‘Build-Neglect-Repair-Repeat’ episode, you will explore various approaches and hear about international examples that promote lasting operation and maintenance of water management and infrastructure projects.

• Airs on: 30 January 2025
• Meetup: 13 February 2025, location: IHE Delft Institue for Water Education, Westvest 7, Delft

Episode 5: Water-Biodiversity-Food

Biodiversity is the cornerstone of all life on Earth. However, conventional water management and food production practices are leading to a rapid decline in global biodiversity, with our food production systems causing 70% of land-based biodiversity loss. Incorporating biodiversity as an integral part of water and food decision-making not only improves local and global ecosystems, but also strengthens the resilience of our food production systems, water infrastructure and economies. That’s why Partners for Water promotes biodiversity not as a ‘nice-to-have’ but as a core component in food and water decision-making.

In this ‘Water-Biodiversity-Food’ episode, you will learn various approaches and examples of incorporating biodiversity into water and food projects.

• Airs on: 27 February 2025
• Meetup: 6 March 2025, location to be announced

Episode 2: The Salty Intruder

This second episode of Waterproof is all about “The Salty Intruder”. All over the world, arable land is becoming more and more saline, threatening farmers’ livelihoods and our food security. But there are smart, innovative people looking for solutions – and the Dutch are helping, for example with a new Virtual Reality game to teach farmers to plant salt tolerant crops.

In Egypt, where the Nile delta is getting saltier, farmers like Tariq el Arini are switching from water-intensive rice to saline loving potatoes. And Vietnam’s ‘Sokfarm’ has moved from coconut milk, ruined by salt, to coconut sugar, made from the sap of the flower. Even Dutch farmers are struggling to come to terms with the intruder. But then we meet Hans Elenbaas, who has harvested salty sea vegetables his whole life! And he loves it.

Episode 1: Let Nature Do It!

For centuries, the Dutch have been good at keeping the water out using increasingly engineered structures of concrete and steel like the Delta Works. And for years, they’ve exported that technology too. But times are changing. Macho dikes keep the water out, but they’re terrible for nature and biodiversity. The Dutch are – slowly – discovering that you can work with nature rather than against it. It’s called Nature Based Solutions and they work – in the Netherlands, in Ghana, basically everywhere. And that is why this week’s show is called: Let Nature Do It!

We speak with Bregje van Wesenbeeck, who is experimenting with willows and mangroves to see how they stand up to storms. Carel Nobbe of the Blue Deal says: first you have to make sure the people you’re working with are on board. Wetlands ecologist Emmanuel Nii Attram Taye from Ghana is working to save the mangrove forests that protect the coast. For the Netherlands, says Alex Hekman of NL2120, it’s both: Nature-based Solutions are essential, but always in combination with hard infrastructure.

The Waterproof Podcast – Trailer

How to listen: you can listen to the Waterproof podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and on this page.

• Save the Podcast on Spotify
• Save the Podcast on Apple Podcasts