AquaDiary: Water Mysteries, Science & News

139 Million Gallons a Day: The Seneca Lake Power Plant That Wants to Run AI

A power plant on Seneca Lake in Dresden, NY is permitted to pull up to 139 million gallons of water out of the lake every day. It used to burn coal, then it mined Bitcoin

Cayuga Lake's Protected Lake Monster: An Investigation into Old Greeny

In 1804, a newspaper claimed two fishermen shot and killed a 100-foot serpent in Cayuga Lake. Over 200 years later, the city of Ithaca has an official resolution protecti

Atmospheric Rivers, El Nino, and Climate Change: Explained by a Scientist

There's a river in the sky carrying up to 15x the flow of the Mississippi River. You've heard the term atmospheric river in the news — this episode is the explanation nob

Why Did Nepal Flood? Glaciology of a Changing Himalaya.

How does a mountain collapse cause a flood when there is almost no rain?In August 2026, a rock-and-ice avalanche collapsed from the northern face of Langtang Lirung in Ne

How Is Algae Managed in Drinking Water? Rochester, NY Water Bureau Explains.

What happens when algae show up in the water that eventually becomes your drinking water?In this episode of AquaDiary, we go behind the scenes again with Rochester, NY to

Is Fluoride Lowering Your IQ? I Read the Studies So You Don't Have To.

Fluoride is under a federal microscope right now. RFK Jr. told the CDC to drop its fluoridation recommendation, Utah already banned it, and the EPA fast-tracked a new tox

120 Homes, 40 Years, One Radioactive Story: Niagara County

Radioactive material has been found in the yards of over 120 homes in the Town of Niagara, NY, and four families have been relocated. But is this just a soil problem, or

PFAS, Algae, and Lake Foam: What Issues Are We Seeing in the Finger Lakes?

There's a beach on one of the cleanest lakes in America with foam sitting on the shoreline, and it just tested over 70x higher for PFAS than the lake water two feet away.

Full Transparency: Water Treatment Tour in Rochester, NY

Rochester, New York has been voted the best-tasting water in New York State twice. In this episode, I go inside the Hemlock Filtration Plant with the Rochester Water Bure

Smoke on the Water: How Canada's Wildfires Change Lakes

In 2023, Canada's wildfires turned the sky over New York the color of a traffic cone. In July 2026, it's happening again. Everyone covers the smoke in our lungs. Almost

Lead, Tested: Inside the Rochester, NY Water Bureau

Rochester, NY has thousands of lead water service lines and a plan to replace all of them by 2030, years ahead of the federal deadline, at virtually cost to residents.How

Reflecting Pool Algae Pt. 2: A Silver Bullet Solution? Scientist Reviews Everything.

Last week's reflecting pool video hit 400,000 views on YouTube. The most common question in the comments: is there actually a fix for algae? Copper sulfate. Silver. Hyd

$16 Million, Dead Ducks, and Algae: The Reflecting Pool Explained by a Scientist

Why did the Reflecting Pool get an algae bloom? Why did thepaint peel off? Is the Reflecting Pool safe? What killed the ducks? Why did the $16 million renovation fail? I

Microplastics in Your Water: What Scientists ACTUALLY Know

Microplastics have been found in 83% of tap water samples tested worldwide, and yes, that includes yours. But here's what almost no one covering this topic will actually

Micron Is Coming to Clay, NY. What Does That Mean for Your Water?

Micron Technology is building the largest semiconductor fabrication complex in U.S. history in Clay, New York, and its wastewater will carry ( mostly unregulated) PFAS, t

PFAS & Poisoned Water: Hoosick Falls, NY

In 2014, a man in a small New York town did something almost no one does: he tested his own tap water. What he found, PFOA, a “forever chemical,” at hundreds of times the

Update: City Tracks Me Down. I Drink Radioactive Water

A few weeks ago I was at a conference when someone from the City of Rochester's water bureau found me in person to ask for a follow-up deep dive into their water supply.

Onondaga Lake: Sacred Site, Founder of Democracies, and America's Most Polluted

The scientists who worked on this cleanup all signed NDAs and wouldn't speak with me. And mercury is still being found. In April 2026, routine marina renovations at Onon

Love Canal: They Called Her Hysterical

21,800 tons of toxic chemical waste buried under a neighborhood and a school. Hundreds of families in Love Canal had no idea. This is the story of America's most infamous

The Dark Secrets of NY's Best Tasting Water: Rochester, NY

Rochester was voted the best-tasting municipal water in New York State. Then they found a body in the reservoir. In March 2024, a maintenance worker discovered a man's b