Women in Water

Talking Under Water Episode 64: Women in Water with Naomi Jones & Michaela Rempkowski

March 17, 2023

In this month’s episode, the hosts discuss U.S. EPA’s recent MCLs proposal for six PFAS in drinking water, share notes from a BaBa webinar and share the second Women in Water interview of the month.

Katie Johns,

Bob Crossen

In this month’s episode of Talking Under Water the hosts discuss U.S. EPA’s recent MCLs proposal for six PFAS in drinking water, share notes from a Build America, Buy America webinar and talk about new funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law through this year’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund. Finally, our interview this month is with Naomi Jones and Michaela Rempkowski, who are design integration directors for McCarthy Building Company’s Water Business Unit. They share with us their career paths, advice and what it means to be women in water.

Show Notes:

Examples of PFAS Hazard Index Equations

Timestamps:

Cold open | 0:00
Episode summary | 1:27
EPA PFAS MCL & MCLG announcement | 2:08
Cybersecurity memorandum | 5:19
Update on Build America, Buy America | 5:57
Impact of BABA delays on business | 8:32
EPA announcement of CWSRF funding | 9:27
Interview begins | 10:30
Michaela Rempkowski career path | 11:10
Naomi Jones career path | 12:15
McCarthy’s all-women design integration team | 13:20
What working with an all-women team is like | 15:17
The role of mentorship | 17:39
Michaela’s advice for young women professionals | 20:01
Naomi’s advice for young women professionals | 20:55
What it means to be a woman in the water industry | 22:30

Awards:

StormCon Discount:

Talking Under Water listeners have access to a special discount code to register for this year's StormCon. When registering, use the code ONEWATER10 to receive a 10% discount on your conference registration. Visit bit.ly/stormconreg2023 to register and use the code.

About the Podcast

Talking Under Water is the premier podcast for the water industry, including municipal and industrial water and wastewater, residential water treatment, storm water management and erosion control. It is produced in coordination between Water & Wastes Digest (WWD), Water Quality Products (WQP) and Storm Water Solutions (SWS). The podcast covers topics under the One Water movement including the municipal and industrial water and wastewater, point of use, point of entry, residential, storm water and erosion control markets. Talking Under Water highlights news, trends, new technologies, industry discussions and on-site interviews with experts for WWD, WQP and SWS. New episodes of the podcast are released on the third Friday of every month. Logo Images: Anatoly Tiplyashin / Romolo Tavani / stock.adobe.com.

Contact the Talking Under Water podcast editors by emailing [email protected] or engaging with them on Twitter @TUWpodcast. Join the conversation by commenting or using the hashtag #talkingunderwaterpod on social media.

About the Author

Katie Johns

Katie Johns, editor-in-chief of Storm Water Solutions and Water Quality Products, graduated from the University of Missouri in 2016 with a Bachelor of Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. Johns joined the Storm Water Solutions team in September 2019. Johns also helps plan the annual StormCon conference and co-hosts the Talking Under Water podcast. Prior to entering the B2B industry, she worked as a newspaper reporter and editor in Sarasota, Florida, and a magazine assistant editor in the Chicago suburbs. She can be reached at [email protected]

About the Author

Bob Crossen

Bob Crossen is the editorial director for the Endeavor Business Media Water Group, which publishes WaterWorld, Wastewater Digest and Stormwater Solutions. Crossen graduated from Illinois State University in Dec. 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in German and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. He worked for Campbell Publications, a weekly newspaper company in rural Illinois outside St. Louis for four years as a reporter and regional editor.