What can 25 years of observing the same watershed teach us about groundwater? Can intensive pumping make groundwater deeper in valleys than on hills? Can decades of depletion be reversed by just a few exceptionally wet years? And how does fertilizer applied at the surface end up contaminating groundwater tens of metres below? Professor Shekhar Muddu joins host Veena Srinivasan on the Water Data Podcast for a deep dive into the Kabini Critical Zone Observatory and what decades of field measure...
Sep 15
1 hr 11 min
What does it actually take to provide safe and affordable drinking water for everyone? And if households must store, filter, boil or buy water before they can safely drink it, can we really say the water system is providing a service? In this episode of The Water Data Podcast, host Veena Srinivasan speaks with Professor Isha Ray, formerly of the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley, about drinking water access, affordability, inequality and the hidden labour in...
Sep 1
1 hr 12 min
How does saving water create a financial crisis for the utilities that supply it? And why do cities continue building water systems based on laws, infrastructure, and climate assumptions that are no longer relevant? In this episode of The Water Data Podcast, Newsha Ajami joins host Veena Srinivasan to unpack the hidden risks inside modern water systems- from outdated water rights and groundwater overuse to drought, demand management, decentralised reuse, and climate resilience. Newsha Ajami i...
Aug 18
1 hr 10 min
What does it mean to measure water for the entire planet? Who collects the data behind SDG 6? And how do numbers from hundreds of countries become a global picture of water security, sanitation, wastewater, ecosystems and governance? In this episode of The Water Data Podcast, Dr Maggie Kossida , from the UN-Water Integrated Monitoring Initiative for SDG 6 joins host Veena Srinivasan. Dr Kossida helps coordinate one of the world’s most ambitious water-data efforts: bringing together informatio...
Aug 4
53 min
What if technology was designed not to manage communities, but to strengthen their voice and agency? In this episode of the Water Data Podcast, Professor Aaditeshwar Seth of IIT Delhi joins host Veena Srinivasan. Aaditeshwar is the co-founder of Gram Vaani and one of the key people behind CoreStack, a digital public infrastructure for commons, resilience, and equity. In this episode, Aaditeshwar traces his journey from computer science and rural communication networks to building participator...
Jul 21
49 min
Where did the idea of “water security” come from? How did countries around the world come to agree on shared goals for drinking water, sanitation, river basin management and sustainable development? And why does water still lack the kind of global institutional architecture that exists for climate change and biodiversity? In this episode, Dr Roberto Lenton, one of the world’s leading voices on water security and international development joins host Veena Srinivasan for a conversation on the e...
Jul 7
58 min
How can satellites measure crop water use from space? Can they help farmers irrigate more precisely, improve yields, and make water distribution fairer across canal systems? In this episode of the Water Data Podcast, Veena Srinivasan speaks with Professor Wim Bastiaanssen, a pioneer in satellite-based evapotranspiration mapping and the original developer of SEBAL — the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm. Professor Bastiaanssen explains how satellite imagery can estimate actual evapotranspiratio...
Jun 23
51 min
Why do canal irrigation systems repeatedly produce head-tail inequality? Why do some farmers receive reliable water while others are systematically deprived for decades? In this episode, Veena Srinivasan speaks with Professor Peter Mollinga, a leading scholar of irrigation and water governance, about the politics of canal irrigation systems in India. Drawing from nearly 40 years of research on the Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal in Karnataka, the conversation explores the origins of “protective i...
Jun 11
1 hr 6 min
California’s groundwater crisis did not emerge overnight. Decades of unrestricted pumping, falling groundwater levels, land subsidence, disappearing streamflows, and recurring droughts eventually pushed the state toward one of the world’s most ambitious groundwater governance reforms: the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). In this episode of the Water Data Podcast, Dr. Maurice Hall, Senior Advisor for Climate Resilient Water Systems at the Environmental Defense Fund, joins host Ve...
May 26
1 hr 17 min
Why is water never just a technical problem? Who gets water, who loses access, and who gets to decide? In this episode of the Water Data Podcast, Professor Margreet Zwarteveen, an internationally recognised scholar of water governance, irrigation, gender, and the politics of natural resources, joins host Veena Srinivasan, Executive Director at WELL Labs. Margreet Zwarteveen is Professor of Water Governance Education at IHE Delft and Professor of Governance and Inclusive Development at the Uni...
May 12
1 hr 13 min
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