REAL Water

The REAL-Water Project

Water is life, and water is a human right. Let's get REAL. Hosts Jeff Albert and Ranjiv Khush of the Aquaya Institute explore solutions to rural water access challenges, with a focus on what the evidence tells us about what has worked, what has failed, and why. Produced by the team at the REAL-Water project, a 5-year centrally-funded research mechanism of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Views expressed in the REAL-Water podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.

Episodes

  1. 25/08/2024

    Episode 4 – Keepin’ it real on climate resilience, drought, and WASH: a conversation with Chris Funk of UC Santa Barbara’s Climate Hazards Center.

    What does it mean to build “climate resilient” water supply and water resource systems? Answering that question convincingly requires properly understanding the nature of climate hazards and how they might affect water availability. The global climate system is complex: rainfall varies considerably across seasons, across regions, and (especially) across climate cycles (e.g. El Niño / La Niña). Understanding variability and the multiple influences on regional climate is essential to planning for extreme events. Today, teams of scientists from different countries are brought together by UC’s Santa Barbara’s Climate Hazards Center to make reliable drought forecasts for many parts of the world up to 8 months in advance. They do this by using estimated rainfall distributions over the entire planet at high spatial temporal resolution (think one-day or 5-day accumulations at 5 x 5 km grid resolution for the entire planet) going back over four decades and comparing them with robust estimates of sea surface temperatures (which are used to determine the strength climate oscillations like El Niño). In this episode of the REAL-Water podcast, we speak with CHC director Chris Funk about how to generate meaningful climate data products and forecast analysis, and just as importantly, how those resources are already being used to protect livelihoods.

    54 min

  2. 08/08/2024

    QuickSummary: Centralized or Onsite Testing? Examining the Costs of Water Quality Monitoring in Rural Africa

    Rural water systems in Africa have room to improve water quality monitoring. However, the most cost-effective approach for microbial water testing remains uncertain. This study, produced by REAL-Water, compared the cost per E. coli test (membrane filtration) of four approaches representing different levels of centralization: (i) one centralized laboratory serving all water systems, (ii) a mobile laboratory serving all systems, (iii) multiple semi-centralized laboratories serving clusters of systems, and (iv) decentralized analysis at each system. Learn more

    5 min

  3. 21/04/2023

    Episode 3 - Securing water supply by protecting water resources: "Water Funds," Nature-Based Solutions, and the Nature Conservancy's Resilient Watersheds Strategy, with Brooke Atwell

    Delivering safe and reliable drinking water is not just amatter of providing services; it also involves protecting the water resources on which water supply systems rely. Sometimes the most effective - andcost-effective - way to insure reliable supplies is to focus on protection and restoration of watersheds. For example, by protecting the Catskill/Delaware and Croton watersheds, covering nearly 5,200 square kilometers, the New York City water supply system was able to deliver safe water to its millions of residents by minimizing its filtration costs (it now filters only 10% of its water supply). Now, one of the world's largest and most influential conservation organizations, the Nature Conservancy, is promoting watershed protection as a means of securing water supplies all over the world, including in low- and middle-income countries, through its Resilient Watersheds Strategy and Water Funds. In this episode of the REAL-Water podcast, we are joined by the Nature Conservancy's Brooke Atwell to learn about how nature-based solutions are restoring freshwater yields, improving livelihoods, sequestering carbon and protecting ecosystems. More information on TNC's efforts to support nature-based solutions can be found at its Nature for Water Facility Website. We also invite listeners to hear more about the Cape Town, South Africa Water Fund as featured on the Unsung Science podcast with David Pogue.

    1h 17m

  4. 14/07/2022

    Episode 2 - An audacious plan to deliver safe reliable water to all of rural Benin ... profitably. With UDUMA's Thierry Barbotte and Mikael Dupuis.

    Rural water economics are different - and incredibly challenging. Can serving rural customers in Africa possibly be a commercially viable proposition? A bold new arrangement in Benin will help answer this question. In this second full episode of the REAL-Water podcast, we speak with Thierry Barbotte and Mikael Dupuis of UDUMA, a subsidiary of France's Odial Solutions and sister company to Vergnet Hydro. UDUMA has been providing rural water supply services under government contracts in Burkina Faso and Mali for several years, and has just been awarded two out of three regional concessions to operate and maintain water supply systems for Benin's rural population - representing a combined service area with on the order 6 million people. A regional rural water system operating contract of this scale is largely unprecedented. We talk with Thierry and Mikael about how this public-private partnership came into being and why they are convinced it will be successful.

    1h 18m

  5. 01/06/2022

    Episode 1 - A new law, a billion dollar loan fund in Viet Nam and the path to better performing water utilities, with Hubert Jenny

    In Southeast Asia, rural water service delivery in low- and middle-income countries has accelerated more rapidly than anywhere in the world. What can we learn from the region's recent water sector history that can be applied elsewhere (as well as continuing it on its impressive trajectory)? In this first full episode of the REAL Water podcast, we speak with Hubert Jenny, whose career in the Asian water sector includes positions with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Investment and Infrastructure Bank, and the Green Climate Fund. We talked to Hubert about the $1 billion loan program for the Vietnamese water sector that he developed and managed - its goals, how it came to fruition, and what we can learn from it, looking through our regular lenses of governance, financing, and innovation.

    53 min

  6. 14/04/2022

    Welcome to the REAL Water Podcast - TEASER episode

    Ranjiv Khush and Jeff Albert of the Aquaya Institute introduce the podcast of the USAID-funded REAL Water project, a research effort dedicated to solving one of the great development challenges of our time: delivering safe and reliable water supply services to the hundreds of millions of rural citizens who do not yet enjoy it.

    23 min
  • 6 Episodes

About

Water is life, and water is a human right. Let's get REAL. Hosts Jeff Albert and Ranjiv Khush of the Aquaya Institute explore solutions to rural water access challenges, with a focus on what the evidence tells us about what has worked, what has failed, and why. Produced by the team at the REAL-Water project, a 5-year centrally-funded research mechanism of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Views expressed in the REAL-Water podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.

Information

  • Creator
    The REAL-Water Project
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2024
  • Episodes
    6
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © The REAL-Water Project
  • Show Website
    REAL Water