In this episode of The NextDrop Question, I speak with John Norton from the Great Lakes Water Authority.
John is the Director of Energy, Research, and Innovation at GLWA, one of the largest and most complex water and wastewater utilities in the United States. GLWA provides water services to nearly 40% of Michigan’s population and wastewater services to nearly 30% of the state. Its Water Resource Recovery Facility is described by GLWA as the largest single-site wastewater treatment facility in North America.
That scale matters.
Research and innovation look different when the system is this large. A good idea has to survive real flows, real assets, real operators, real capital planning, real communities, and real risk. It has to fit into the work of a utility that cannot pause operations while a new concept is tested.
John recently received the Water Research Foundation’s 2026 Research Innovation Award for leadership in utility-driven research that strengthens water and wastewater system performance. That recognition fits the topic of our conversation: collaboration.
How do utilities, researchers, consultants, technology providers, and funders work together in a way that produces something useful? How do we avoid research that is technically interesting but disconnected from operations? And how can large utilities turn their scale into a platform for learning, testing, and better decisions?
This conversation is a reminder that water-sector research has the most value when it is shaped by the people who understand the system, and when it returns something that can actually improve performance.
A focused question. A practical takeaway. See you next time.
