These are my thoughts on the event:

1) Houston’s extreme weather is like the Cuyahoga River fires: The opening plenary brought together Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells of the Northeast Ohio Sewer District and Yvonne Forrest from Houston Water. The former talked about the regulatory revolution that followed the last Cuyahoga River fire 50 years ago. The latter talked about the frequency of 100-year flood events over the past decade. It was difficult not to make the connection between the two. Will there be regulation to match the Clean Water Acts to take on climate change?

2) There really is a revolution in water management in the unconventional oil industry: The pre-conference workshop on financing the water midstream heard how we could soon see operators switch from fresh water to 100% recycled water in the Permian Basin. The next step is beneficial reuse outside the oilfield. It is a great environmental story, but one that is overshadowed by the much larger negative narrative in the minds of some investors around fossil fuels.

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