Blog Archives - BWTL

Episode 29 - Andy Talks Water

4/27/2017

Episode Highlights:

[1:35] Welcome Andy - Nine-year-old Andy joins us today as part of "Take Your Child to Work Day."
[2:25] The Birthday Game - Andy gets his chance to show Brent and Elizabeth how this game is really played.
- Patrick Stump
- Kevin James
- First Lady Melania Trump
[4:35] The Water Cycle - Andy shares what he's learned about water in school. Play along:
- Where does the water in your pipes come from?
- How much water does it take to stay alive?
- Andy's Riddle: What's lighter than a feather but even the strongest man can't hold it for two minutes?
[8:00] Quick current event updates - Next week, we'll cover some recent activities (the end of the California drought and the confirmation of the Secretary of Agriculture).
[9:45] Challenges with the water cycle - We don't always know where the water will fall. Have too much in some areas and too little in others.
- Where does your water come from (e.g. rivers, groundwater)?
[11:54] Minecraft and water - Andy shares how the game Minecraft treats water.
- You can use a water bucket to make crops grow faster.
- You can get water from oceans and deep in the ground.
[16:00] The three states of water - solid, liquid, gas.
[17:45] Water is H2O - Water is made up of two hydrogen (H) atoms and one oxygen (O) atom.
[20:20] Plants - Plants take in carbon dioxide and give us Oxygen. Andy shares about what inputs plants need, including water.
- Plants don't always get enough water from nature, so irrigation can be used to supplement rainfall.
[26:40] Brent's Tip of the Week - "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."

Episode 28 - New Water Technologies

4/12/2017

.@OohoWater is an edible water! It's environmentally friendly & cheaper to produce than plastic bottles: https://t.co/OqvuiWOXox #CleanSeas pic.twitter.com/A8e7r794ia
— UN Environment (@UNEP) April 12, 2017

Episode Highlights:

[4:36] The Birthday Game - Beverly Cleary, David Letterman and Pete Rose.
[8:45] Brent gives some follow-up on last week's podcast - after missing our podcast on water in sports. Brent has some info to share.
- For the Masters Tournament they bring in golf course superintendents from all of the country and each one is given one hole to manage.
[13:10] Water Allocation Update - The Bureau of Reclamation boosts water allocation to 100 percent for west-side farmers.
[14:50] Water Technologies - Our assignment this week was to come up with two water technologies we did not know existed.
- Ohoo - the edible water bubble.

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[19:27] Orange you glad to have clean water - Scientists have figured out a new use for orange peels.
- 3.8 million tons of citrus peels go to waste each year. A new use for this waste is as a material in wastewater treatment facilities to filter out bad metals and other pollutants.
[21:29] New irrigation product - Brent's friend has been developing a flow sensor that has no moving parts and can measure pressure and volume of water more accurately.
[23:02] Gadget Grabs More Solar Energy to Disinfect Water Faster - harnesses the sun to disinfect water in 20 minutes.

Episode 27 - Water in Sports

4/7/2017

Episode Highlights

[2:30] The Birthday Game - Elizabeth gives her best at playing the birthday game without Brent. Spoiler: it doesn't go well.
- Governor Jerry Brown
- Colin Powell
- Olaf Kölzig
[4:53] Great week to be a sports fan - Opening Day for baseball and the Masters Tournament.
[6:30] When you think of water in sports, what comes to your mind?
[9:37] Water in Golf - A story from 2014 shows the importance of water use in golf.

[16:54] Opening Day 2017 - Baseball and water.
- A different kind of rain delay - Spring Training 2017: Reds-Indians game briefly delayed by rogue sprinklers.
- Some colleges have gone to artificial turf for baseball fields.
  - Even fields with artificial turf need some type of irrigation for cleaning and even cooling purposes. John has had his shoes melt while refereeing a soccer game on artificial turf.
- [22:10] Irrigation is used to keep playing surfaces ready for the players.
[26:20] Sports need water - Next time you are out, check out how your favorite sport would be different without water.
[27:00] Elizabeth shares more about her favorite place - She'll be heading to Cincinnati in September for some Reds baseball and Oktoberfest Zinzinnati (the nation's largest authentic Oktoberfest).
- Elizabeth's tip of the week: visit Cincinnati.