In this interview on The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton, Newsha Ajami of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory discusses the February 2026 Aspen National Water Strategy. As co-lead of the Aspen National Water Affordability Strategy Initiative with Martin Doyle, Ajami explains how years of reacting to water crises with short-term solutions and a fragmented and outdated U.S. governance system led to this rethinking of how the U.S. manages water.

Duke University expert Martin Doyle explained during the 2026 Emerging Issues Forum that many North Carolina water systems are not collecting enough revenue from their customer bases to cover their operating and maintenance costs. “The challenge for this is that we have a large number of water systems that are operating right at the financial threshold," he said.

Instead of framing water primarily as an environmental challenge or a public works concern, the new Aspen National Water Strategy argues it should be treated as an economic foundation—on par with energy systems, transportation networks, and digital infrastructure, reports Environment+Energy Leader. The strategy was co-chaired by Duke University’s Martin Doyle and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Newsha Ajami.

This interview with Martin Doyle (Duke University) and Matt Ross (Colorado State University) focuses on water quality data accessibility and a partnership between the Radical Open Science Syndicate (ROSS) at Colorado State and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This collaborative effort improved an existing EPA toolkit empowering water resource managers to use the data they collect.

A new Aspen National Water Strategy, published today by the Aspen Institute’s Energy & Environment Program, provides a comprehensive roadmap to strengthen water security across the United States and ensure that communities, economies, and ecosystems can thrive amid growing water-related challenges. Martin Doyle co-chaired the effort with Newsha Ajami of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

In the second half of a conversation with the Audacious Water podcast, Newsha Ajami (Lawrence Berkeley National Lab) and Martin Doyle (Duke University) discuss what a modern national water strategy needs to address. " I think what we want and what we need as a nation is to be aware that in almost every business decision, water is actually an input variable," Doyle said. "But we have lived in a world of luxury where they haven’t actually had to consider it as such."

It’s been 75 years since the United States released its first and only national water strategy. In this episode of the Audacious Water podcast, Newsha Ajami (Lawrence Berkeley National Lab) and Martin Doyle (Duke University) talk about why that original plan mattered, what it accomplished, and why today’s challenges call for a new approach.

While communities across the United States are facing growing threats from climate change, municipal bonds continue to be priced without these risks in mind, reports Dividend.com. A 2023 paper written by Nicholas Institute expert Martin Doyle and several co-authors found that increasing an issuer’s climate risk by 32 times only added 4.2 basis points to its yield. 

Nicholas Institute experts Martin Doyle, Lydia Olander and Tim Profeta recently served one- or two-year terms with federal entities. They discuss their temporary assignments—and what they brought back to Duke.

Martin Doyle served for more than a year as a senior advisor on water resources in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army for Civil Works, which provides civilian oversight of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Part of a series focusing on Nicholas Institute experts who have recently taken on temporary assignments within federal entities.

Western North Carolina “was as prepared as most communities can be” for Hurricane Helene, Martin Doyle, director of the Water Policy Program at the Nicholas Institute and professor of river science and policy at the Nicholas School of the Environment, told The Duke Chronicle. Doyle explained that Helene's destruction was amplified by increased atmospheric moisture and subsequent heavier rainfall, driven by rising global temperatures.
 

After some Olympic triathletes dropped out of competition due to illness, questions are being raised about poor water quality in the Seine River. River, lake and even ocean waters often get contaminated with E. coli and other bacteria after rain. Runoff from parking lots or lawns, gardens and fields can carry along oil and tar or bits and pieces of animal feces, Martin Doyle, Water Policy Program director at the Nicholas Institute, explained to The Washington Post.

As Florida counties eye already-conserved public lands to offset impacts to urban and suburban wetlands, a blog post from the Environmental Policy Innovation Center outlines arguments for putting offsets on public lands and presents counterarguments. The blog post also cites a 2020 Nicholas Institute report to detail safeguards that can be put in place when public lands have to be used for mitigation.

The U.S. municipal bond market does not consider physical climate risks when deciding where to invest, but it generally requires higher interest payments from predominantly Black communities seeking to borrow, according to a new analysis.

In 787 communities served by the United States’ largest utilities, 17 percent of households (28.3 million people) spend more than one day each month working to pay for water services and sanitation services, according to a new analysis by researchers at Duke University.