The top Wastewater Digest videos posted in 2025
From plant upgrades and treatment innovations to utility leadership and workforce development, Wastewater Digest videos in 2025 offered an inside look at how the sector is adapting to new challenges and opportunities. Readers and viewers turned to video coverage for practical insights, expert perspectives, and real-world project highlights. The following videos represent the most-watched Wastewater Digest content of 2025, showcasing the topics and technologies that resonated most across the wastewater community.
1. What the latest research says about the fate of PFAS in wastewater
In this interview, Patrick McNamara of Black & Veatch discusses the evolving role of thermal technologies in biosolids management and their potential to address PFAS contamination. While still in early stages of adoption, thermal processes like pyrolysis, gasification, and incineration are gaining interest among utilities seeking long-term solutions.
2. Why foam fractionation became a Michigan landfill's solution for PFAS-laden leachate
Faced with Michigan's increasingly strong regulations for PFAS concentrations in landfill leachate and wastewater flows, Smiths Creek Landfill Director Matt Williams waded through information and conducted research for a solution. Learn what drove his decision to pick foam fractionation, how it has performed for his landfill and the wastewater plant down stream, and what will come next for his facility.
3. Badger Meter acquires SmartCover in $185M deal
On January 31, Badger Meter — a metering, water quality and controls company — announced it had acquired SmartCover, known for its manhole monitoring solution for sewer overflows, for $185 million.
4. Cracking the code on acceptance of direct potable water reuse
In this video, attendees and vendors at the WateReuse Symposium 2025 share their tactics and strategies for public outreach, thoughts and leadership on advancing water reuse across the nation, and technologies that are slotting into the market to solve problems.
5. EPA draft sludge risk assessment for PFAS: What it means for utilities
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its Draft Sewage Sludge Risk Assessment on January 14, 2025, for Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid (PFOS).
In this video Carollo PFAS Lead Kyle Thompson discusses his takeaways from the assessment and how utilities can communicate possible regulations with their customers. Thompson also lists possible treatment techniques for PFAS in sludge. Watch the video above to learn more.
6. How the $1.7B Echowater project stayed on time and on budget
Major metropolitan water infrastructure projects are bigger, more complex and more expensive than ever. With these sizes, projects like Echo Water in Sacremento can take a decade before they are completed. So how to engineers, contractors, designers, utilities and their stakeholders keep everything straight?
7. Digital water loss and system monitoring company catches deeper attention from Xylem
The blockbuster news of Xylem acquiring Evoqua in 2023 overshadowed the company's secondary move of a minority stake ownership in Idrica, a digital solutions company solving water loss and system monitoring challenges around the globe. At the end of 2024, Xylem increased its investment to a majority stake ownership, furthering its partnership with the Spain-based solutions provider.
8. The first full scale implementation of MABR
Yorkville-Bristol Sanitary District was the first full scale implementation of Veolia's ZeeLung membrane aerated bioreator (MABR) technology in the world in 2017. Faced with continuous residential and industrial growth, estimates to expand the plant across a creek running through the property was cost-prohibitive. Then came a promise of new wastewater intensification technology for a fraction of the cost.
9. 18 months with PFAS: Lessons from a California wastewater pilot study
In this interview from WEFTEC 2025, Bob Crossen speaks with Conner Murray, Principal Engineer at Hazen and Sawyer, about an 18-month pilot study conducted in Riverside, California, with Western Municipal Water District. The study focused on PFAS removal in tertiary wastewater effluent and explored a range of treatment strategies to meet stringent regulatory targets.
10. What wastewater challenges in Maine tell us about municipal systems across the U.S.
Since the Maine state legislature's ban on land application of biosolids in 2022, wastewater leaders in the state have taken up a new charge on behalf of their U.S. peers. The state motto is "Dirigo" a latin word that translates to "I lead", "I guide" or "I direct," a fitting motto for leaders in this state who stand at the forefront of PFAS in biosolids and its impact on land application. But that is just one issue these leaders are tackling head-on.
About the Author
Alex Cossin
Associate Editor
Alex Cossin is the associate editor for Waterworld Magazine, Wastewater Digest and Stormwater Solutions, which compose the Endeavor Business Media Water Group. Cossin graduated from Kent State University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism. Cossin can be reached at [email protected].