What About Water? with Jay Famiglietti
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
Go With the Flow: Erica Gies on Embracing Water's Natural Path
22 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when we change our relationship to water? Can we stop trying to control water and just go with the flow? Erica Gies, environmental journa...
Sewage Spillover in 'Mexico's Toilet Bowl': The Endhó Dam Crisis
22 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Endhó Dam north of Mexico City has been called "the largest septic tank in the world" and "Mexico's toilet bowl". Once designed to solve water pr...
John Fleck on the Inconvenient Science of the Colorado River
22 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when science gets in the way of ambition, politics, and progress? With a look back at the historical figures and forces that led to the o...
Tapped Out: The Dire State of America's Groundwater
22 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Humans are burning through our fossil fuels, and we're burning through our groundwater at an alarming rate. But are the powers that be even listening?...
Water Costs Money: How Gary White and Matt Damon are Bridging the Gap
22 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The World Bank estimated in 2016 it would take $1.7 trillion USD to achieve universal access to clean water and sanitation by 2030. By other estimates...
Quenching Desert Thirst: What Will It 'Take'?
22 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is the true price of water? Considering growth and climate, how do we address the gap between demand and supply? Could we achieve water security ...
Season 5 Trailer
15 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Freshwater is essential for life on Earth, but analysts at the World Bank say more often than not, there's either too little, too much, or the water i...
Drilling Deeper Won't Fix This
16 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
People in the lower Colorado River basin are now witnessing drastic cuts to their allotments. In many cases, developers find alternate sources of wate...
The Colorado River's Alfalfa Problem
14 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The meat and dairy industries are some of the biggest water users in the American West, thanks to one of cows' favorite foods – alfalfa. As aridific...
World Water Day 2023 with Autumn Peltier
22 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When Autumn Peltier was eight, she learned the tap water on a neighbouring reserve wasn't safe to drink, or even to use for hand-washing. That injusti...
Will Sarni: Can We Tech Our Way Out of Wicked Water Problems?
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Can we really "tech" our way out of freshwater shortages, scarcity, and pollution? In our Season 4 finale, we're asking the big question of the season...
What Lurks Beneath: How Robots Can Save City Plumbing with Vanessa Speight
15 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we're going underground, undersea and into your water and sewer pipelines with science fiction's favorite problem-solvers…robots! J...
An AI Fix for Aging Water Systems with Seyi Fabode
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of What About Water? an entrepreneur in Austin, Texas turns his dishwasher sensor into a tech startup that's feeding water utilities s...
Chemical Cocktails: What's in our Groundwater? with John Cherry
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If it's not stuck in glaciers or polar ice, 99 per cent of the world's freshwater is groundwater. Water underground supplies nearly half of the world'...
Dirty Laundry: Water and the World of Fast Fashion
21 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Call the fashion police! In this special holiday edition of What About Water? we dive into the apparel industry's dirty secret: its water use. Behind ...
Into Thin Air: A Smarter Way to Water Crops, with A.J. Purdy
07 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How can we measure water when it disappears into thin air? On this episode of What About Water? we're looking at evapotranspiration, or "ET" for short...
Submerged
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the quest to find clean, renewable sources of energy, we turn to a familiar method: hydroelectricity. Today, the ancient method of harnessing the p...
Field Smarts: Protecting Farmers' Wallets and Our Water, with Bruno Basso
09 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's estimated that by 2050, we'll have over 9 billion people on earth. To feed everyone, we will need to produce 60 per cent more food - and we'll ne...
Under the Sea: Hidden Freshwater Reserves with Brandon Dugan
26 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
By 2025, experts predict over half the world's population will live in water-stressed areas. With a number of our freshwater resources on land recedin...
Running Dry: Nik Kowsar on Iranian Censorship and Water Scarcity
12 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For Nik Kowsar, civil unrest in Iran is not new. As a geologist and journalist, he's been sounding the alarm about water shortages and censorship in h...
Water Affects Your Pension: Cate Lamb at World Water Week
28 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Can water risk disclosure move the needle on corporate water stewardship? And what does that risk mean for our own retirement funds? In this very spec...
Don't Mess With the Data: Virginia Burkett on Louisiana's Vanishing Coastline
14 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the first episode of our fourth season, Jay sits down with renowned scientist and IPCC author, Virginia Burkett, to talk about technology, its pitf...
Season 4 Trailer
24 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Our planet is in crisis. When it comes to water, there are many promising solutions. But in a world full of new technologies, what innovations should ...
Can Peace and Prosperity Flow from Water?
17 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when tensions over water reach their boiling point? In our final bonus episode of the summer season, we explore the causes of water confl...
Engineering a New Water World
13 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In our third bonus episode of the summer season, we look back at the innovative ways people are sourcing their freshwater, from building home water sy...
Going to Extremes: Heat, Water Scarcity and Food
15 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From farmer's fields to the high arctic, from your morning cup of coffee to a glass of wine – everything we eat and drink depends on water. In the s...
At Its Essence: What Indigenous Teachings Tell us About Water
18 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In our first mini-episode of the summer season, we turn to three guests from our past seasons to explore Indigenous ways of knowing, and to look more ...
Summer Season Trailer (Bonus Episodes)
16 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This summer on What About Water? we bring you some of our most compelling interviews from the past three seasons. We're releasing four mini episodes s...
The Girl Who Wanted To Swim: Tackling Sewage At The Source
30 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On our final episode of Season 3, we hear how a 6th grade science fair project led to receiving the Order of Nova Scotia for youth environmentalist an...
Water Pipes to Water Rights: Protecting Water with Newsha Ajami and Carolina Vilches
16 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week on What About Water?, we look at water infrastructure – from broken water pipes across America to the redistribution of water rights in Ch...
Good To The Last Drop? Coffee & Climate with Aaron Davis
02 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Coffee is one of the most widely-consumed beverages in the world. But with climate change threatening the world's two main coffee species, will that c...
Tasha Beeds: Walking With Water
16 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of What About Water? we're learning from traditional knowledge. Jay sits down with Tasha Beeds, a grassroots Indigenous academic an...
The Sea Also Rises
02 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of What About Water? we take a look at the state of our rising seas from space, and learn what coastal communities on the ground are d...
Debunking 'Toilet to Tap', with Mike Markus
19 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
With climate change threatening freshwater sources, water demand across the globe is likely to increase by 20 - 30% between now and 2050. In this epis...
Boiling Point: Water, Borders and Conflict with Aaron Wolf
05 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Transboundary waters - the rivers, lakes, and aquifers shared by two or more countries - are found in 153 of the world's 192 countries. They account f...
'Portfolios will tank': Mindy Lubber, money and water
08 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We're already reaping the financial repercussions of climate change. Four Twenty Seven projects that by 2040, roughly $78 trillion, equivalent to abo...
Replenishing a Broken Water Cycle with Sandra Postel
24 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For centuries, we have built big dams, reservoirs, and levees. Humans have steered and shaped the flow of water to irrigate deserts, prevent floods an...
Growing Food in Dry Times: Drought in the West
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's no surprise growing food uses lots of water. One cow needs anywhere from 3 to 30 L of water a day. It takes 3200 L of water to grow one pound of ...
On Thin Ice: Iqaluit's Water Crisis
27 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we visit the city of Iqaluit in Canada's northern territory of Nunavut, which is battling a water crisis on multiple fronts. This mon...
Climate Change Hope with Katharine Hayhoe
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode: Katharine Hayhoe's new book, Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World, is a practical and compas...
Season 3 Trailer
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Water is one of the main ways we experience the effects of a changing climate. As flooding, drought, and climate extremes grow widespread, the way we ...
DamNation! (Bonus Episode)
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Join our guest host, Professor Graham Strickert, as he hosts a panel of experts to discuss the pitfalls and problems of hydropower dams. Inspired by o...
Oh crap! COVID-19 In Our Wastewater?! (Bonus Episode)
28 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Join us as some of Canada's leading water scientists and experts discuss how testing wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 can help us detect emerging community o...
The Cost of Climate Migration (Bonus Episode)
11 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Climate change has a price. In this bonus episode (recorded on Earth Day) our host Dr. Jay Famiglietti has a live virtual roundtable with three expert...
Valuing Water (Bonus Episode)
22 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Valuing water is about much more than price. In this bonus episode (a condensed version of our Let's Talk About Water virtual forum on World Water Day...
Best of Season 2
11 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We've had a great second season on Let's Talk About Water, diving deep into some of the planet's most pressing water concerns. We looked at disadvanta...
Towards a Better World with Jeffrey Sachs: Director's Cut
11 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mark World Water Day on March 22 by checking out our extended director's cut of "Towards a Greener, Better World with Jeffrey Sachs". Tune in as Dr. S...
Towards a Greener, Better World with Jeffrey Sachs
08 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
World-renowned economist Dr. Jeffrey Sachs believes humanity can leap forward with science and technology – but only if we drop our primeval addicti...
Liquid Assets: Water on Wall Street
22 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Colorado water lawyer James Eklund and California water policy expert Ellen Hanak talk to Jay about the future of water -- or rather, about water futu...
Broken Promises, New Solutions
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For thousands of years Indigenous North Americans drank some of the world's purest drinking water. Then came colonization and government neglect. Firs...
A Conversation With Felicia Marcus
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Jay talks with an old friend about hope: hope for cleaner and safer water in America. Felicia Marcus is an attorney/consultant who ha...
Plastics Are Forever
11 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Chelsea Rochman, an associate professor at the University of Toronto, says plastic, everyone's favourite cheap and easy resource, comes with a hig...
Slippery Slopes: Canadian Recreation Meets Climate Change
14 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week climatologist Micah Hewer and economist Pat Lloyd-Smith tell Jay about the good, the bad, and the ugly effects of global warming on Canada's...
Brother Ocean, Sister Lake: Why Water Deserves Respect and Human Rights
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Kelsey Leonard, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo and member of the Shinnecock Nation, discusses how Indigenous views on the pe...
Season 2 Trailer
20 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This season, host Jay Famiglietti sits down with some of the world's leading experts to once again talk about water and learns why some marginalized c...
Bide(n) time for America's Water Resources with Peter Gleick
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Peter Gleick, co-founder and president emeritus of the Pacific Institute, believes Joe Biden could be the man to save American water policy, which...
Groundwater: 'Go Deep or Go Dry' is Unsustainable
03 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Debra Perrone, Assistant Professor UC Santa Barbara, discusses the dwindling groundwater supply affecting 12 million US wells caused by global warming...
The Great Climate Migration with Abrahm Lustgarten
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Abrahm Lustgarten, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated environmental reporter, talks to us about climate migration, one of climate change's biggest looming thr...
How Environmental Racism Pollutes Marginalized Communities
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Ingrid Waldron is a sociology professor at Dalhousie University who argues that African Nova Scotian and Indigenous communities are victims of env...
California Drying, California Burning
22 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of "Let's Talk About Water," California is burning. And Oregon. And Washington State. And not only are mega wildfires in the U.S. thre...
COVID-19 and Our Water Supply
15 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What is the impact of COVID-19 on our water supply? As we learn on the Season 2 debut of "Let's Talk About Water" scientists' initial fears the virus ...
Want to handle floods? Leave it to the Dutch.
15 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Host Jay Famiglietti speaks with globe-trotting water expert Henk Ovink about the Dutch approach to water, particularly in comparison to North America...
From building rockets to top U.S. water diplomat
01 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
President Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton. Aaron Salzberg. One of these 3 people regularly wears a pretty sick ponytail and has sat down to talk water p...
Pained communities, dry wells in Arizona: Ian James Part 2
16 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A brief trip down memory lane for host Jay Famiglietti on a jaw-dropping moment in 2015 with the CEO of Nestle Waters North America. Then, back into t...
Big Bottled Water Battle: Ian James Part 1
02 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Guest Ian James is a reporter with the Arizona Republic newspaper in Phoenix. He and host Jay Famiglietti reflect on their roles in the big bottled ...
Zoning in on water shortages in California
19 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Big topic: what's the state of drought in California these days? Plus host Jay Famiglietti talks about that one time he almost got fired from NASA, gu...
Big bad Texas storms and more
05 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded at the American Geophysical Union's annual fall meeting in San Francisco. Host Jay Famiglietti sits down with old friend Bridget Scanlon, hea...
Water, peace and the Middle East: Part 2
22 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Part 2 of our interview in Tel Aviv, Israel where host Jay Famiglietti sits down with Gidon Bromberg, co-founder and Israeli Director of EcoPeace Midd...
Water, peace and the Middle East: Part 1
15 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This episode, host Jay Famiglietti sits down with Gidon Bromberg, co-founder and Israeli Director of EcoPeace Middle East. Gidon comes from the most w...
Calling out scientists for not helping water-troubled communities
23 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Our guests this week haven't always seen eye to eye when looking at a river delta that acts as a breeding ground for massive numbers of wildlife and w...
Please don't flush your drugs, and other underwater worries
17 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Karen Kidd takes us underwater, metaphorically speaking. She tells us how pharmaceuticals, birth control and mercury affect fish and aquatic life —...
Trailer
01 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Starting soon, Let's Talk About Water, a podcast from the Global Institute for Water Security and The Walrus Lab.