What About Water? with Jay Famiglietti

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 problems in the region, it now receives wastewater from local industry and Mexico City.    Arizona State University doctoral students Raquel Neri, in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, and Diego Pantaleón, in the School of Social Transformation, join host Jay Famiglietti to discuss the devastating impact the contaminated water is having on local communities and water sources in Hidalgo, Mexico.   We also hear from Yury Uribe, activist and member of El Movimiento Social por la Tierra - Social Movement for the Land in Mexico. She has been in the community all her life and lived near the  Endhó Dam for 20 years.   By June 7, 2024, officials from Mexico's federal health department met with community leaders to discuss ways to address public health concerns related to contaminants in the waters of the region, including the Endhó Dam. Read the official statement from Mexico's federal government announcing it has begun work to declare the Endhó dam as an ecological restoration zone: 

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 overallocation of the Colorado River, and the consequences that continue to play out today, John Fleck joins Jay Famiglietti on What About Water? Fleck is a Water Policy Researcher at the Utton Center, University of New Mexico and co-author with Eric Kuhn of Science Be Dammed: How Ignoring Inconvenient Science Drained the Colorado River. We conclude the episode with a perspective on how we can use the latest science and technoligy to both map and protect the earth’s biodiversity. Greg Asner explains what AToMS (Airborne Taxonomic Mapping System) can do and where the technology is headed in the future. Asner is the Chief Science Officer for a satellite mission called Carbon Mapper and director of ASU’s Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science.

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?   On this episode, Dr. Upmanu Lall joins host Jay Famiglietti to discuss why we’ve reached an “all hands on deck” moment with our groundwater crisis. Lall and Famiglietti discuss (along with Dr. Bridget Scanlon) before the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) which advises President Biden in December 2023. Hear how and why these researchers are urging political leaders to give groundwater their full attention before it is too late.    At the end of the program we hear from Dr. Bridget Scanlon, the Fisher Endowed Chair and Prieto Fellow in Geological Sciences at the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin. She's also a Senior Research Scientist at the University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology.

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 that amount is now even higher.    Gary White is the CEO and Co-founder, along with Matt Damon, of Water.org and WaterEquity. The two also co-wrote the book The Worth of Water: Our Story of Chasing Solutions to the World's Greatest Challenge.   White joins host Jay Famiglietti to discuss the inspiration behind his organization, the financial plumbing it will take from investors, and how women around the world are pivotal in solving the global water crisis.   We conclude the episode by hearing Matt Damon describe his interest in water and why it has become a personal issue for him.