71%: How Water Shapes Our World

James Wallace: The Fight to Rescue Britain’s Rivers

Beneath the surface of Britain’s rivers, a very different story is unfolding. In this episode, James Wallace shares what’s really happening to the UK’s waterways, from sewage pollution and agricultural runoff to water scarcity and collapsing ecosystems. We explore what healthy rivers should actually look like, where regulation is failing, and why public awareness alone is no longer enough. This is a conversation about stewardship, accountability, and the growing fight to protect the water systems that sustain all of us.

Matthew Hayes: Building Worlds in Water

Matthew Hayes, better known as Fish Shop Matt, has spent most of his life around aquariums. In this episode, we explore why aquariums are far more than decoration. Matt talks about building living systems, choosing the right species, understanding water chemistry, and why fish behaviour often reveals when something is wrong before anything else does. We also discuss the calm aquariums can bring, the responsibility of caring for contained ecosystems, and what small tanks can teach us about the wider natural world.

Stuart Sutcliffe: Beneath the Surface

Beneath the surface, water behaves very differently. In this episode, Stuart Sutcliffe shares what it’s really like to work inside it. From commercial diving operations to subsea infrastructure, we explore how water moves, how it creates risk, and why experience matters when conditions change fast. This is a conversation about pressure, safety, and responsibility in an environment most of us will never see.

David Bracey: What Water Demands of Us (Part 2)

In the final part of this conversation, David Bracey moves from fountain systems and public space into a bigger question: how do we work with water responsibly? We discuss conservation, sustainability, rainwater, the hidden cost of filtration, and why the industry needs to rethink how it uses and values water. David reflects on public water play, cultural attitudes to water, and what decades of working with it has taught him about restraint, respect, and long-term thinking.

David Bracey: More Than Decoration (Part 1)

David Bracey, Managing Director and co-founder of The Fountain Workshop Ltd, shares how he found his way into the fountain industry and why working with water became a lifelong pursuit. In this first part, we explore how fountains shape public space, why people are instinctively drawn to water, and what separates features that simply look good from systems that work over time. David explains the hidden complexity behind successful fountains, from flow and circulation to planning, durability, and the unpredictable behaviour of water in the real world.