#87: Water: Access, Equity and Greater Impacts

It's only natural to be curious about the most essential need for human health and survival: water. In this episode, we learn about clean water, recognizing the drastic difference in water security between communities and what can be done about it. We spoke with Dr. Jay Famiglietti, a hydrologist at the University of Saskatchewan, about water infrastructure in terms of freshwater availability, climate change, and the value of federal oversight and science communication. Dr. Madjid Mohseni, professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of British Columbia and Scientific Director of RES'EAU, shares his expertise in water quality and technologies, and his efforts to facilitate safe drinking water access. He emphasizes collaboration with Indigenous communities and the importance of water operators, echoed by John Millar, the founder of Water First. John delves into the training and education for Indigenous community members, as an essential way to combat water challenges on the ground. Currently, boil water advisories disproportionately affect Indigenous communities. We discuss environmental racism with Dr. Ingrid Waldron, Associate Professor at Dalhousie University and author of "There's Something In The Water". Dr. Waldron draws upon intersectionality in the context of environmental health inequities, and shares the impact of policy changes.

Written by: Rachel Dadouch

Dr. Jay Famiglietti's website
Dr. Famiglietti's podcast: Let's Talk About Water
Dr. Madjid Mohseni's profile
Dr. Ingrid Waldron's profile
Emerging trends in global freshwater availability (Nature)
RES'EAU Centre for Mobilizing Innovation's (RES'EAU)
59 long-term drinking water advisories
Water First
The ENRICH Project
Support Bill C-230