The Stream (with Will & Tom)

• Pickleball, political headwinds and reflecting on water ‘Legends’ – Brendan Tierney

  In this episode, we closed the season with Brendan Tierney, the head of water and wastewater and Raymond James.Brendan joined us to catch up on a whole host of things, including reflecting on the latest season of The Stream and our conversations with water ‘Legends’. This conversation went many different directions, from views on the pickleball craze, through to current political headwinds and impact on water.What a great conversation to close out this season!  🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes. We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream.Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.And our charity partner, Frank Water.And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

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• California’s ‘water czar’ - Felicia Marcus on the LA fires and creating resilience in uncertain times

  In this latest episode we were delighted to welcome water policy expert Felicia Marcus, a fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration and former Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board.She was the chair of the board during the significant 2011-2017 drought, and shares some of the lessons learned.During the conversation she provides commentary on what California has done to drive water resilience, and also reflects on the LA fires and intersection with water.🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes. We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream.Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.And our charity partner, Frank Water.And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

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• From FIG to FIGS – Usha Rao-Monari on water economics and the need to make flexible financing work

  Former UN Under-Secretary-General Usha Rao-Monari joins The Stream to explore why blended finance isn’t working for water, lessons from the energy sector, and how her FIGS model can drive change through finance, innovation, governance, and social equity. In this episode of The Stream podcast, Will and Tom are joined by Usha Rao-Monari — Senior Partner at Wellers Impact and Former Under-Secretary-General at the United Nations.Usha reflects on her 25+ year career across finance, infrastructure, and development, including her time as Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). We dive deep into why blended finance — combining public and private investment, grants, equity, and debt — still isn’t working in the water sector, and what water can learn from energy and renewables when it comes to incentives and investment models.She also shares her updated FIGS framework (Finance, Innovation & Infrastructure, Governance, and Social equity) — a model designed to drive real impact in complex systems.If you've heard Usha speak before, you'll know how clearly she explains big ideas. This episode is packed with insight, inspiration, and practical takeaways for anyone working at the intersection of water, climate, finance, and development.🧠 Topics include:-The challenges and promise of blended finance-Economic models for scaling water solutions-Parallels between water and energy investment-How to embed social equity into infrastructure strategy-Career reflections from the UN and beyond🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes. We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream.Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.And our charity partner, Frank Water.And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

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  45:09
• From FIG to FIGS – Usha Rao-Monari on water economics and the need to make flexible financing work

  Former UN Under-Secretary-General Usha Rao-Monari joins The Stream to explore why blended finance isn’t working for water, lessons from the energy sector, and how her FIGS model can drive change through finance, innovation, governance, and social equity. In this episode of The Stream podcast, Will and Tom are joined by Usha Rao-Monari — Senior Partner at Wellers Impact and Former Under-Secretary-General at the United Nations.Usha reflects on her 25+ year career across finance, infrastructure, and development, including her time as Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). We dive deep into why blended finance — combining public and private investment, grants, equity, and debt — still isn’t working in the water sector, and what water can learn from energy and renewables when it comes to incentives and investment models.She also shares her updated FIGS framework (Finance, Innovation & Infrastructure, Governance, and Social equity) — a model designed to drive real impact in complex systems.If you've heard Usha speak before, you'll know how clearly she explains big ideas. This episode is packed with insight, inspiration, and practical takeaways for anyone working at the intersection of water, climate, finance, and development.🧠 Topics include:The challenges and promise of blended financeEconomic models for scaling water solutionsParallels between water and energy investmentHow to embed social equity into infrastructure strategyCareer reflections from the UN and beyond🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes. We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream.Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.And our charity partner, Frank Water.And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

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  45:09
• Reasons for hope and climate optimism – Dr Peter Gleick on the three ages of water

  We were delighted to welcome Dr Peter Gleick, a leading scientist, innovator and communicator on water and climate issues.He founded the Pacific Institute in 1987 to be one of the most innovative, independent non-governmental research centres to advance solutions for the world’s most pressing water challenges.For the podcast we wanted to speak with him about his latest book entitled, The Three Ages of Water. The book covers Earth and humanity’s intricate relationship with water. From the prehistoric past where the cradles of civilisation were born around water, through to the current age and ‘imperilled present’, as Gleick calls it, where we learned to engineer water to our benefit, but also with unexpected consequences. And finally, the third age and hope for the future.Now Dr Gleick rightly deserves to be on the legends series – as well as being a MacArthur Fellow, he’s also an elected member of the US National Academy of Sciences.As you’ll hear, he remains optimistic that we have the solutions to hand and with the right decisions, we can solve water. The Three Ages of Water: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Ages-Water-Prehistoric-Imperiled/dp/1541702271 The Water Conflict Chronology: https://pacinst.org/water-conflict-chronology/🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes. We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream.Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.And our charity partner, Frank Water.And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

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