#24 - Jon Hathaway: The ‘Swiss Army Knife’ of green infrastructure, opening a ‘can of worms’ and gaining control of watersheds

The Grand Challengers Podcast

Jon Hathaway, Associate Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee Knoxville sheds light on the origins and practice of green infrastructure for stormwater management in the US, the impact climate change will have, needs for better asset management and maintenance and how we can operate these systems in a smarter way. We also compare notes and terminology in this field across the globe and discuss the challenges of academics working at the interface with practice.
Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Starsky by Alex Keren (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vZ3lENfDLjkln8scBJ8mW)
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:59 Guest Intro, US Travel and Mountainbiking
5:33 Jon’s interest in natural systems
8:18 Exposure to green stormwater infrastructure
12:04 Green infrastructure terminology
17:11 Early work on swine lagoon seepage treatment
19:50 Bioretention - the “Swiss Army Knife”
22:19 Indicator bacteria, pathogens and other pollutants
27:14 Interdisciplinary collaboration
30:26 Backyard GI and stormwater asset maintenance
36:39 Origins of GI? and implications for other places
39:37 Bioretention, rain gardens, or biofiltration
42:00 Regulations in the US around stormwater
48:05 Impact of climate change on GI
54:53 Monitoring and control of GI
1:03:28 Q&A Start
1:03:43 What inspires you?
1:06:18 Key event, person, book
1:07:36 Biggest challenge in career to date
1:10:47 If you had a magic wand?
1:13:15 Time management
1:14:44 Advice for young researchers
1:16:58 Where can people reach you?
1:17:35 Final Message
1:19:01 Outro

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