Introducing the Water Stack
A list of Substack publications about water and life on, in, and around it
I’ve decided to put together a list of publications about water. Here are the water publications I subscribe to and recommend. The blurb under each link is from the publication about page or author’s bio. Authors, please reach out to me if you update this content or if you’d like me to put something different in your listing here.
If you know of any other publications that should be listed here. please send them along to me.
I hope you find this list useful!
I’ve added a dedicated page for this list on the Mostly Water website navigation bar.
The Water Droplet | Steve Shikaze | Substack
The purpose of this newsletter is to provide information about interesting water issues from around the world. Our connection to water is both obvious (since we’re made up of about 60% water) and subtle (I hope to answer questions I have, like how much water is needed for me to eat avocados here in Canada in the middle of winter).
Climate Water Project | Alpha Lo | Substack
Groundwater, microbiome regulation, LA wildfires, art of water, multifunctionality, Congo rainforest and Sahel, silvergreen water, water ecology principles, making a global map of moisture recycling
Invisible Waters | Daniel Rothberg | Substack
Hello, and welcome to Invisible Waters (formerly Western Water Notes), a newsletter featuring research, writing, and insights about human, social, and ecological relationships to water in the Western U.S.
This newsletter is dedicated to making invisible systems more visible. So much of the physical and social infrastructure built around water in the past century is hidden from the public. Yet, it is so ingrained in our cultures, economies, and environments.
SoCal Water Wars | John Earl | Substack
John Earl is an investigative journalist with 19 years of experience reporting on Southern California water-management issues. Earl is known for his in-depth and exclusive coverage of local water districts in Orange County, particularly their past pursuit of the controversial Poseidon Ocean Desalination project proposed for Huntington Beach, California. His investigative and explanatory reporting exposed the flaws and risks associated with the project, catalyzing public action and influencing mainstream media narratives. His work ultimately contributed to the defeat of what he describes as one of America’s great water-project scams.
Letters About Water | Ricardo Amon | Substack
Understanding our nexus with water.
Western Watersheds Project | Substack
Because the West is under siege—and you deserve the truth.
Subscribe to Western Watersheds Project to stay informed about the battles that matter most: protecting public lands, defending wildlife, and exposing the industries that profit from ecological destruction. We don’t sugarcoat it. We challenge the status quo—whether it’s corrupt politicians, extractive industries, or federal agencies more loyal to ranchers than to the land they’re supposed to steward.
Rethink Water | Ray Valek | Substack
I advocate for manufacturers of innovative, high-performing, and water-efficient plumbing products. Our Rethink Water initiative focuses on assuring clean dafe drinking water for future generations.
Water Water Everywhere... | Nishanth Varghese | Substack
We have for some time know been marvelling at the good things people are doing in the world of water and the various challenges smart people are tackling across the globe. We setup this weekly missive to share what awesomeness we come across in the world of water.
The Life Boat | Substack
Sam Clark makes the most beautiful art featuring water
Sea Cow | Mary Beth Rew Hicks | Substack
The sea cow was a peaceful herbivore who swam in the Pacific Ocean until it was hunted to extinction in 1768. The sea cow taught us what happens when we assume a species is inexhaustible, though we have not yet learned. As a scientist studying marine species, I often feel my main occupation is the documentation of extinction. I am finding that in my work as a writer, I spiral back to this objective as well.
SPARRING WITH MOTHER NATURE | Janice Anne Wheeler | Substack
I live aboard Steadfast, a 56’ Classic Wooden Sailing Yacht designed by William Hand, Jr. & built by Wheeler Shipyard in Brooklyn, New York way back in 1934. I learn something every day; my respect grows and my passion multiplies; the more I learn, the more I see. The more I know the more I want to know, and the waters we travel upon are such a mystery!
Thank you for reading. And if you’re not already a subscriber to Mostly Water, you can fix that right here!
Oh, how I wish I could carve out the time to dig into all of these in the way they deserve. If we make it through what's being thrown at us currently, the struggle will be all about water. Love seeing Janice Anne's Steadfast here. Did you know we live very near each other (but seem to only see one another at the holiday party of a mutual friend)?
Terrific resource, John, thanks for pulling these together. I'm hoping that you'll add my Substack to the list, so readers can dive in (ha ha) for surprising stories of water from healing to holiness to Hollywood, from paychecks to playlists to peace. I provide an entertaining exploration of how water flows through every part of our lives. Meet a five-time Irish surfing champion who confides that surfing actually “teaches you how to fall well.” A marine scientist in Virginia shares the best career advice she ever got: “What would you do with your time if you win the lottery? Now, figure out how you can do that without winning the lottery.” She realized her dream was to “scuba dive and travel” and she has done exactly that. A retired rear admiral of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Commissioned Officer Corps teaches us how knowing that right angles are extremely rare in nature led to finding John F. Kennedy Jr.’s downed aircraft in 1999 in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Massachusetts. A California commercial fisherman describes free diving in pure poetry, and explains how he applies the wisdom “be like water” to find innovative crab fishing solutions not by powering or pressuring through a challenge but rather flowing around it and finding another way. A Peruvian engineer explains how he developed fogcatchers, billboard-sized nets that trap water moisture from sea breezes to provide water for communities that lack a consistent water supply. A Hawaiian entrepreneur tells how atmospheric water generation literally pulls water from humid air and can be a lifesaving technology for communities lacking access to clean water. An innovator reports how desalinating ocean water 400 meters below the surface instead of onshore is a game-changer. A researcher reveals why we are so attracted to things that glitter. Based on decades of study, a rabbi in Florida imparts how and why shoreline and water cleanup “becomes a holy act, not just community service.” A German artist encloses water in transparent plastic boxes, where an endless dance of condensation and evaporation creates random patterns that illuminate cause and effect. And many more stories. Along the way we discover hindcasting (the opposite of forecasting), backronyms, and the sunlit, twilight, and midnight zones of the oceans.