The Water Data Podcast

36 Episodes

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40 Years of Groundwater Research: What Has India Learned? with Dr Tushaar Shah

2026-11-1001:08:47

Can India make groundwater conservation financially attractive to farmers? India is the world's largest user of groundwater, and millions of farmers depend on it for irrigation. But managing groundwater is often a complex puzzle involving various factors, such as electricity subsidies, agricultural incentives, and how farmers respond to them. In this episode of The Water Data Podcast, Dr Tushaar Shah , a leading researcher on groundwater governance, agricultural economics, and water policy, j...

India's Drinking Water Crisis with Dr. Sunderrajan Krishnan

2026-10-2901:09:59

What if the water you drink every day looks perfectly safe but contains contaminants that could affect your health for years? Millions of people in India depend on groundwater for drinking water. Yet contaminants such as fluoride, arsenic and nitrate can pose serious health risks that are often difficult to detect without testing. In this episode of The Water Data Podcast, Dr Sunderrajan Krishnan , Executive Director of the INREM Foundation joins host Veena Srinivasan to talk about India's dr...

Bengal’s Arsenic Groundwater Crisis Explained with Prof. Abhijit Mukherjee

2026-10-1301:11:48

How does water that looks perfectly clean contain dangerous levels of arsenic? Even after decades of research and treatment technologies, why does arsenic exposure remain a drinking-water problem? In this episode of The Water Data Podcast, hydrogeologist Prof. Abhijit Mukherjee joins host Veena Srinivasan to trace the arsenic story across the Bengal and Ganga-Brahmaputra aquifer systems. In the conversation, Veena and Abhijit explore how arsenic naturally occurs in sediments, why the geology ...

How can we measure Evapotranspiration from Space? with Gilles Boulet

2026-09-2955:01

Can we measure evapotranspiration from space? And when a satellite produces a map of crop water use, how certain are those numbers? Dr. Gilles Boulet joins host Veena Srinivasan for a deep dive into one of the most important and difficult-to-measure components of the hydrological cycle: evapotranspiration. Evapotranspiration, or ET, combines evaporation from soil with transpiration through vegetation. In many semi-arid landscapes, it accounts for most of the water leaving the land surface. Ho...

25 Years of Watching Groundwater at the Kabini Critical Zone Observatory with Sekhar Muddu

2026-09-1501:11:23

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...

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