Podcast appearances and mentions of felicia marcus

Felicia Marcus is one of the most significant public servants in water, having served on the Board of Public Works for the City of LA, served as Regional Administrator for the EPA in Region 9, COO of the Trust for Public Land and Western Director of the NRDC. As if that wasn't enough, she was also the Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board of California during the business end of the 2011-2017 California drought, which was rather scary and is now taking a “breather” as a Fellow at Stanford's “Water in the West Program”. Felicia is delightful, the speed of her mind matched only by the quality of her communication. We're so lucky to have such extraordinarily dedicated people who choose service when they could be doing a lot of different things, and the water sector is so much better off for it. Please enjoy my conversation with the excellent Felicia Marcus.  Subscribe to The Fundamental Molecule here: https://www.burntislandventures.com/the-fundamental-molecule For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fundamental-molecule/id1714287205 ----------- Felicia Marcus, a powerhouse in water policy, joins Tom today to discuss California's drought response, elevating water's importance, and the role of communication in public service. Felicia shares insights from her career, including her time as Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board and at the EPA, highlights the need for more support for water technology innovation, and expresses concerns about the current state of the EPA. Geopolitics of water and AI's implications are discussed, and Felicia offers her invaluable advice for water entrepreneurs. 00:00 - Meet Felicia Marcus 02:06 - Why Water Needs a Bigger Spotlight 03:16 - The Hidden Complexity of Water Infrastructure 06:15 - Why Water Lags Behind Energy in Investment and Innovation 07:16 - California's Water Crisis 10:02 - Lessons from Droughts 12:58 - A Career in Water Policy 16:26 - The Future of LA's Water and Infrastructure Challenges 20:47 - How Politics Shapes Water Policy Decisions 22:09 - Lessons from Managing California's Drought 25:04 - Balancing Environmental Protection and Water Use 26:47 - Why Water Tech Innovation Lags Behind Energy 27:07 - The Operator vs. The Visionary 31:13 - The Power of Communication in Water Policy 36:53 - Stanford Water in the West Program 40:15 - The Role of AI in Water Management 42:52 - Water and Global Geopolitics 45:36 - Cybersecurity Risks in the Water Sector 45:58 - Advice for Water Entrepreneurs Links: Burnt Island Ventures: https://www.burntislandventures.com/ Felicia Marcus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/feliciamarcus/ SM Material Key Takeaways: "Water is a necessity for life and economic development. It's amazing how it's just assumed and taken for granted." "Energy is appreciated because people notice when the lights go out. Water is less understood, less appreciated." "California's drought taught us a lot. The public saved nearly 25% when asked. Education was key." "The disparity in funding between water and energy is a self-inflicted wound in California." "I like helping people move. You can't just say, “Do it.” You have to help them see another way." "Know your audience beyond who you want to sell to. Educate yourself on the context in which you sell."

California has one of the most ambitious and highly engineered water delivery systems on the planet, and it's being eyed for a new extension. The Delta Conveyance Project is Governor Gavin Newsom's proposal for a 45-mile underground tube that would tap fresh water from its source in the north and carry it beneath a vast wetland to users in the south. The Delta is the exchange point for half of California's water supply, and the tunnel is an extension of the State Water Project, which was built in the 1960s. It's a 700-mile maze of aqueducts and canals that sends Delta water from the Bay Area down to farms and cities in Central and Southern California. This is a local story about a global issue, the future of water. In a three-part series of field reports and podcasts, Bay City News reporter Ruth Dusseault looks at the tunnel's stakeholders, its engineering challenges, and explores the preindustrial Delta and its future restoration. Ruth is joined by Felicia Marcus, the Landreth Visiting Fellow in Stanford's Water in the West program and former chair of the California Water Resources Control Board. This is a production of Bay City News, presented in collaboration with Climate One and Northern California Public Media. For more on this story and other news in the Greater Bay Area, visit localnewsmatters.org. Special thanks to Dan Rosenheim, Kat Rowlands, Jonathan Westerling, Monica Campbell, Marco Werman, Katharine Meiszkowski, Kurt, Max, Quinn and Nick Wenner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yesterday, Gov. Gavin Newsom surveyed the Sierra snowpack and outlined a new state water plan focused on climate change. Scott and KQED climate reporter Ezra David Romero are joined by California's former top water regulator Felicia Marcus. As the state's top water czar, she navigated severe droughts, balancing demands for scare water by cities, farms, businesses and homeowners. 

As a variety of forces continue to change the water landscape in the American West, adaptation is the focus. This episode features conversations with several prominent water leaders from the One Water Summit in Tucson.Adel Hagekhalil, the General Manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, explains ambitious plans to capture, store, and recycle enormous amounts of water across the region. Felicia Marcus, a Fellow at Stanford University's Water In The West Program, discusses California's progress during the past decade and how it has created a comprehensive approach to adaptation. Sharon Megdal, a professor and Director of the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arizona, talks about the role of research in building public understanding of problems and advancing tangible solutions.waterloop is a nonprofit media outlet. Visit waterloop.org

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I'm Cindy Zimmerman This episode comes to you from the 2023 Water for Food Global Conference, which was held May 8-11 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This was the 10th Water for Food Conference but the first time it's been held since 2019, thanks to COVID. The Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI) at the University of Nebraska works to address the global challenge of achieving food security with less stress on water resources through water management in agricultural and food systems and the conference brings together experts and thought leaders from around the world to help find solutions to water and food security challenges. In this episode, you will hear from DWFI executive director Peter McCornick, DWFI board member Felicia Marcus, Colorado farmer and LRE Water consultant Dick Wolfe, Nebraska farmer Debbie Borg, and Louise Mabulo, founder of The Cacao Project. We hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Attorney and Consultant; DWFI Board Member Water Policy Group

Even as the threat of dead pool on Lakes Powell and Mead and loss of hydropower at Glen Canyon Dam now looms mere acre-feet away, another federal deadline came to pass this January with no consensus on allocation or conservation among the Colorado River basin states.Ten Across has been following the negotiations and challenges of the drying Colorado River over the last few years, hosting engaging and illustrative dialogues among various stakeholders and advisers of the river both on air and at Ten Across summits including the recent summit in Houston. Given that the situation is more dire than ever, we decided it was apt time to reconvene three closely involved experts on the continued water crisis. In this episode, Ten Across founder Duke Reiter speaks with the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan signatory, James Eklund; U.S. Commissioner of the Upper Colorado River Commission, Anne Castle; and former chair of the California State Water Board, Felicia Marcus about the diffcult legal and cultural struggle among senior and junior water users. A struggle deeply engrained in the history of the river and one that is currently reaching an apex ahead of the Bureau of Reclamation's Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement this summer.

Today's guest is Dr. Evan Thomas, CEO and Founder of Virridy, and Director of the Mortensen  Center in Global Engineering & Resilience and the Climate Innovation Collaboratory at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Evan is also a tenured Associate Professor in the CU Boulder Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering Department. So, he's a busy guy.  Virridy' s water sensors monitor and measure groundwater pumping for more than 4 million people in the East African countries of Kenya and Ethiopia and the American West. The company's partners include the National Science Foundation (NSF), USAID, The World Bank, NASA, the Millennium Water Alliance, Swarm Technologies, The Freshwater Trust, Wexus Technologies and the Kenyan government.We've had a few conversations on the pod recently at the intersection of water and climate change. Jason spoke with Felicia Marcus of Stanford's Water in the West program, and Cody talked to David Wallace of CODA Farm Tech. It's worth noting some of the key learnings up to this point. For starters, conversations about water are nuanced. Droughts, floods, sea level rise, irrigation, stormwater systems, clean drinking water, etc… all have water as a common thread, but are each enormously separate topics on their own. And while most of the problems and challenges with water existed before climate change, they have accelerated faster than anyone anticipated. Evan is pursuing two different business models in East Africa and the U.S., albeit with the same tech stack. In the former, he primarily seeks to earn avoided emissions carbon credits by monitoring the activity of groundwater pumps and the cleanliness of the water they produce, and ensuring access to clean drinking water without the need to burn fuels to heat and purify it. In the American West, he is participating in the demand response economy, helping water utilities shut down their groundwater pumps and conserve electricity during times of peak grid demand.Evan and Cody have a fantastically nuanced conversation, tackling subjects as diverse as the outcomes of COP27 as it relates to climate justice, his background at NASA and how it informed his approach to earth science, how he runs a company while also being a university professor, how carbon credit financing works, and of course the differences in how climate change is accelerating droughts in East Africa and the American West, and what that means for the water systems in each geography. Get ready to dive in a learn a ton!  In this episode, we cover: [4:12] Evan's background in water systems in space and rural communities[8:28] Applying carbon credits to clean drinking water[10:50] Evan's partnership with Life Straw and academic and entrepreneurial experience[12:20] Similarities and differences between the American West and East Africa in terms of climate change and water[18:36] Groundwater in East Africa vs. California and purification requirements[24:10] Virridy's solution and technology[26:22] The company's carbon credit methodologies in Africa[28:31] Financial incentives and carbon offset endorsements from COP27 in Egypt[32:11] Virridy's different business model in the U.S.[37:48] How Evan manages Virridy's different markets[42:59] Applying Virridy's tech to soil carbon[46:23] The company's funding to date and an overview of pre-selling carbon creditsGet connected: Cody's TwitterDr. Evan Thomas / VirridyMCJ Podcast / Collective*You can also reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.Episode recorded on November 28, 2022.

It was just last week when the federal drought monitor declared that California is no longer in a severe drought.  But, that's not to say the drought is over in the state.  Water experts say it will take a number of storms to catch up with years of dry weather.  It's one of the reasons voters in California decided to try and do something about it in the form of water storage. In 2014, voters passed proposition 1 which set aside billions of dollars for more water storage in California.  To see if that money is being used yet, KCBS Radio's Bret Burkhart and Patti Reising spoke with Felicia Marcus, former chair of the State Water Resources Control Board and a visiting fellow at Stanford University's Water in the West Program. 

Today's guest is Felicia Marcus,  the Williams C. Landreth visiting fellow at Stanford University's Water in the West program. Felicia is also an attorney, consultant, and member of the Water Policy Group. She most recently served as Chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board, where she implemented laws regarding drinking water, water quality and state's water rights, as well as heard regional board water quality appeals, settled disputes, and provided financial assistance to communities to upgrade water infrastructure. Before her appointment to the Water Board, she also served in positions in government, the non-profit and private sector. In government, Felicia served as the regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency's Pacific Southwest region during the Clinton Administration, where she was known for her work in bringing unlikely allies together for environmental progress and for making the agency more responsive to the communities it serves, particularly Indian Tribes, communities of color, local government and agricultural and business interests. Water is often considered an untold climate story. From water scarcity and drought, to extreme flooding and rising sea level, the impacts of our changing climate on this critical resource demand our attention. In this episode, Jason and Felicia dig deep into her background and have a great discussion about the intersection of water and climate.  what the biggest risks are, how much those risks are factored in today, what some of the barriers are to properly factor in those risks, and from a solution standpoint, what we can do about it. In this episode, we cover: [2:55] Felicia's background [6:26] Why water matters generally and in the context of climate change [15:44] The human right to water movement [21:41] How the playbook for managing water needs to change in response to the changing climate [29:05] The business case for improving and increasing water recycling[36:57] The role of conservation and efficiency in urban landscapes [40:55] How location may impact the approach to water management [44:58] Water and corporate risks[50:41] The regulatory environment for water [59:19] The need for a mindset change to accelerate our progress around waterGet connected: Jason's TwitterFelicia's TwitterMCJ Podcast / Collective*You can also reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.Episode recorded on October 3, 2022

Felicia Marcus is a visiting fellow with the Water in the West program at Stanford University, as well as a founding member of the Water Policy Group.I think there was a bit of denial where folks felt like they had planned for a three-year drought, and they were fine. It's like, “Dude–we could have a 10- or a 40-year drought.” So that's not good enough. We kind of [need] to amp it up.   Notes and references from this episode: Water in the West program - Stanford UniversityWater Policy Group - home pageJonathan Gold - LA Times archiveJudge Harry Pregerson - Wikipedia biographyCalifornia Water Action Plan - State of California Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) - State of California “California leads effort to let rivers roam, lower flood risk,” by Kathleen Ronayne, Associated Press=====Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comSupport What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

Learn about two women who have done amazing things for the environment and water issues in our state. They've broken barriers and achieved tremendous results – and their work will undoubtedly have an effect on Californians for generations to come. Martha Guzman was appointed by President Biden as the first Latina to lead the Environmental Protection Agency for the Pacific Southwest. She is longtime Central Valley advocate from Sacramento who began her career working for the United Farm Workers and California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation. She has served as a Commissioner on the California Public Utilities Commission. While she's done many things to deliver access to clean, safe water for underserved communities, she told us she is most proud of the work she was able to do in helping to pass California's Driver's License Act for the Undocumented, as well as making sure that electricity kept flowing to people despite the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.  She is an experienced leader who values economic justice and strives to give voice to those who need it. Felicia Marcus jokes that she has had an accidental career, but we can see that her accomplishments are serious and consequential. Originally an East Asian Studies major with the intent of changing the international world, she fell into environmental and domestic policy instead. Early in her career, she learned about how sludge was still being dumped into Santa Monica Bay and decided to take action. This led her on a journey to become an advocate, attorney and administrator championing conservation of California's natural resources. She even earned the moniker of California's water czar during the state's last severe drought as chair of the state's water board. Today, she's a fellow at Stanford's Water in the West Program and a consultant and member of the Water Policy Group. Get ready to learn more about these two smart, powerful women as well as their impact on California's future. We hope you enjoy it!

In the arid and drought ridden American southwest, the future of water is here. Ten Across Founder Duke Reiter talks to water policy experts, Felicia Marcus and Kathryn Sorensen, each of whom represents two of the most drought impacted states in the U.S., California and Arizona respectively. The images of a shrinking Colorado River have been widely distributed and climate change identified as the driver. With Lakes Mead and Powell at critically low levels, excessive groundwater pumping, less precipitation, and a drying climate, is the media getting this complicated story straight? And how can two states with differing approaches to water but dependent upon shared resources work together to ensure a more sustainable future? For more information about the Ten Across initiative visit www.10across.com.

A conversation with Felicia Marcus about community organizing, emergency response systems, and drought in California. Released June 18, 2021

On this episode, we welcome Felicia Marcus, Visiting Fellow at Stanford's Water in the West program and Academy Fellow, to discuss the complexity of our national water system and what it takes to provide safe and sustainable water.Music Credits: Sea Breeze by Vlad Gluschenko | https://soundcloud.com/vgl9Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

In this episode, Jay talks with an old friend about hope: hope for cleaner and safer water in America. Felicia Marcus is an attorney/consultant who has served in government, the non-profit world, and the private sector. She's been a board member on numerous national and international bodies, including one that oversees Canada-U.S. water issues. She is currently the Landreth Visiting Fellow at Stanford University's Woods Institute Water in the West Program.

Multi-year water deficits and compound events leading to unexpected water surpluses have led to multi-billion-dollar losses in states around the U.S., and this is becoming the norm worldwide. Those losses highlight the vulnerability of our infrastructure to extreme climate events. Historic approaches to regulation are not easy to change and as more and more weather events occur due to climate change, some advocates are suggesting that laws need to be more flexible and adaptable. In this episode we ask "what the heck is water law" and how it is changing as our world does? This episode is hosted by Gus Hurwitz (Nebraska Governance and Technology Center) and Peter McCornick (Daugherty Water for Food Institute). Guests include Rob Cifelli, Felicia Marcus, Francisco Muñoz-Arriola, and Anthony Schutz.

Felicia Marcus is a Fellow at Stanford University's Water in the West Program and member of the Water Policy Group. In this episode Felicia discusses many of the major water issues in California, drawing from her experience in leadership roles at the U.S. EPA, state Water Resources Control Board, and City of Los Angeles. She talks about California's response to drought, including the emphasis on water conservation and efficiency, as well as other measures to build resilience to climate change. Felicia also shares her perspective on the role of collaboration in water management and explains her work at Stanford. See all podcasts at www.waterloop.org The waterloop podcast is brought to you by High Sierra Showerheads, the smart and stylish way to save water, energy, and money while enjoying a powerful shower. Use promo code waterloop for 20 percent off at www.highsierrashowerheads.com

Felicia Marcus has been making waves in California water management and regulation for more than three decades. She most recently served as Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, with responsibility for drinking water, water quality, and water rights. Prior to that, as Regional Administrator of the U.S. EPA Region IX she was responsible for the range of environmental issues under EPA’s jurisdiction. Earlier, Marcus headed the Los Angeles Department of Public Works dealing with wastewater, water and solid waste recycling, stormwater management, and other environmental issues. She is currently the Landreth Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Water in the West Program. In addition, she is active on numerous volunteer boards, including the Daugherty Global Water for Food Institute and the Sustainable Conservation Advisory Board, and has received many awards for her work and approach. Learn more about Felicia Marcus and her work with farmers in California on water issues in this podcast in episode three.

Most recently, Felicia Marcus was chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, responsible for drinking water, water quality and water rights. Importantly, she led the state board through California's worst drought in modern history. As regional administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 9, she was responsible for environmental issues under the EPA's jurisdiction. In the the nonprofit world, Marcus was the western director for the Natural Resources Defense Council and the executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Trust for Public Land. In her prior work, she was a private and nonprofit sector attorney and organizer in Los Angeles. She has a law degree from New York University and an AB in East Asian studies from Harvard University. Marcus is also known as a devoted whale watcher. Join us to discuss her important environmental work and her outstanding commitment and dedication for the planet, the environment, the present and the future. MLF ORGANIZER Ann Clark NOTES MLF: Environment & Natural Resources Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Felicia Marcus sits at the helm of the agency that controls California’s most contested resource—water. In her role as Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, Marcus oversees statewide policy, settles water rights disagreements, and hears appeals of local regional water quality decisions, and is responsible for both water quality and water rights across the state. Her career has spanned top-ranking positions at the City of Los Angeles and the Natural Resources Defense Council, as well as serving as administrator for Region 9 of the US EPA. In this episode, Felicia tells us about her life and career, offers advice for those interested in working on environment and water, and shares her perspectives on this critically important issue.

Californians are accustomed to living through wet times and dry times, but lately things are getting more extreme and much more difficult to predict. After five years of severe drought, Californians are now talking about what it means to have too much water at once. The end of the drought is a blessing, but the state may need to find $50 billion to repair dams, roads and other infrastructure threatened by floods. The damaged spillway at Oroville dam highlighted what happens when the state doesn’t keep its water system in good working order. How is California preparing for the whiplash of going from really dry to really wet years? What will it take to fix the system that delivers the water that keeps us alive and lubricates our economy? How will the state and federal governments work together to modernize the water system that grows food that lands on dinner tables across the country? This program is made possible by support from the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation. Guests: Don Cameron, General Manager, Terranova Ranch Inc. Felicia Marcus, Chair, State Water Resources Control Board Buzz Thompson, Director, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on May 24, 2017.

The four-year severe drought in California has captured headlines in the U.S. and internationally. What can be done to alleviate it and how does California's water future look? Seth interviews Felicia Marcus, the Chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board, often nicknamed "California's water czar." Learn what the Water Resources Control Board does and why she says the "water czar" moniker is inaccurate.

Felicia Marcus, a member of the California State Water Resources Control Board, talks about the governance of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and why she is optimistic on warring water interest reaching a compromise on the management of the estuary as both a major ecosystem and heart of the state's water delivery system. Marcus says the five-member board is at a critical juncture in California's water history. "The next four years will see a series of decisions that have the promise of both improving public health protection and of meeting the 'co-equal' goals of water supply reliability and ecosystem protection (in the Delta)," she said last August in a news release on the Senate confirmation of her board appointment, by Gov. Jerry Brown. "The state board will either make or be a critical player in those decisions."

Big Green Michael Brune, Executive Director, Sierra Club Felicia Marcus, Western Director, Natural Resources Defense Council Karen Topakian, Board Chair, Greenpeace USA It would not seem a fruitful time to be on the frontlines in the fight to protect the environment in the United States, with the EPA under daily attack and climate legislation stalled. But the three environmental leaders participating in this Climate One panel note that many fronts exist outside of Washington, with at least one formidable adversary, utilities operating coal fired-power plants, forced to play defense. Until recently, says Michael Brune, Executive Director, Sierra Club, “every single conversation was about, Will we get 60 senators to pass comprehensive climate legislation – when that really represented just the tip of the iceberg, part of the conversation about climate change.” Brune and fellow panelists Felicia Marcus, Western Director, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Karen Topakian, Board Chair, Greenpeace USA, agree that D.C. politics will force environmental groups to play defense in the near term. They also stress that building grassroots support and presenting a positive vision of the future will be critical. “We’re trying to create a future in which we have clean energy, clean communities, and clean food. We have to deal not just with playing defense; we have to create a vision of the future that people are for,” says Marcus. Over the next three to five years, the Sierra Club will, as Brune puts it, focus on getting real and getting local. “It’s hard to motivate people around an issue where they get the moral imperative, but they don’t really understand what it is that you’re trying to do, and how your solutions will address the problems you’re identifying,” he says. For the Sierra Club, this means a return to its roots, a focus on the grassroots, says Brune, with the most visible manifestation of that effort its Beyond Coal campaign. Recently buttressed by a $50 million donation from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the campaign aims to force the retirement of one-third of the nation’s 600 coal-fired power plants over the next five years. Greenpeace likewise aims to retire old, dirty coal plants, says Karen Topakian. Its goal is 150 plants taken offline by 2015. “We’re making it tangible to people,” she says. “If you start talking about fuel in a way that’s abstract, people don’t get it.” “We are in alignment in fighting dirty fuels, and then creating an opening for clean fuels,” adds Felicia Marcus. “We’re at a place where we can use [clean energy] as a way to create and talk about a future that is at some level complex but at another much more clear to the average person.” For example, she says, NRDC is “doubling down” on an issue it has focused on for 30 years: “the very low-glamour, high-value issue of energy efficiency.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on September 28, 2011