TT073 – Behind the Scenes of Water and Environment Reporting
From Tap Talk by Illinois State Water Survey
April 16, 2026 · 38 min
About this episode
Michael Phillis discusses his experiences in environmental reporting and the PFAS contamination crisis in Wisconsin.
Tap Talk Season 7 is here! Today, we bring you a conversation with Michael Phillis, a water & environment reporter for the Associated Press. Michael tells Jennifer & Steve about how he got into environmental reporting, the importance and range of stories about water, and the experience of reporting the recent long-form investigation " A crisis emerges across the US as 'forever chemicals' quietly contaminate drinking water wells " with his colleague Helen Wieffering . This story centers the well contamination crisis in Stella, Wisconsin, a town of ~600 people in northern Wisconsin, where some well water tests have found PFAS concentration levels of 375 times the federal limit for drinking water connected to a nearby paper mill. Visit drinkingwaterpodcast.org to learn more and find the full show notes for this episode.
People in this episode
Guest: Michael Phillis
Topics covered
- water reporting
- environmental journalism
- PFAS contamination
- drinking water
Keywords
- environment
- investigation
- water crisis
- journalism
Mentioned in this episode
Products: drinkingwaterpodcast.org
Books & works: Behind the Scenes of Water and Environment Reporting, Tap Talk Season, " A crisis emerges across the US as 'forever chemicals' quietly contaminate drinking water wells
Places: Stella, Wisconsin
More episodes of Tap Talk
- TT075 – Raising Your Hand: The Value of Industry Involvement · April 30, 2026 · 30 min
- TT074 – Mitigating Legionella Risks in Water Systems: Lessons from a Microbiologist · April 23, 2026 · 42 min
- TT072 – Build Trust Before a Crisis: Communication Basics for Water Systems (Part 2) · December 4, 2025 · 34 min
- TT071 – Build Trust Before a Crisis: Communication Basics for Water Systems · November 20, 2025 · 36 min
- TT070 – Diving Into Biofilms With Water Quality Investigations (Part 2) · November 13, 2025 · 35 min
- TT069 – Diving Into Biofilms With Water Quality Investigations (Part 1) · November 6, 2025 · 37 min
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