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PODCAST

The WELL Labs Show

The WELL Labs Show features rich conversations on water, environment, land and livelihoods, from the people and partners of WELL Labs. Hosted by Pavan Srinath, each episode explores complex environmental and social issues and helps you understand the systems and the dynamics better. New Episodes every other Thursday. WELL Labs is transforming water systems at scale across India through research, partnerships, and collective action. WELL Labs is a part of the IFMR Society and is based in

science earth sciences

All Episodes

00:01:00

Stay tuned for Season 2: A Note from the Host

The WELL Labs Show ·

2026/06/25

Season 1 of The WELL Labs Show comes to a close.Across 15 episodes, we explored conversations on water, environment, land, and livelihoods with guests from different disciplines and experiences. Thank you for listening, watching, and being part of these conversations. If you have suggestions for future guests or topics, we would love to hear from you! We hope to share Season 2 with you in the coming months. Stay tuned!

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00:48:32

The Biochemistry of Bengaluru's Lakes | Veena Srinivasan

The WELL Labs Show ·

2026/06/18

Socio-hydrologist Veena Srinivasan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/veenasrinivasan/?originalSubdomain=in) joins host Pavan Srinath (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavansrinath/?originalSubdomain=in) to unpack the chemistry and biology of Bengaluru’s lakes — and why lake rejuvenation cannot succeed unless we understand what sewage, nutrients, algae, wetlands and lake design are doing inside these water bodies.Bengaluru’s surviving lakes are not pristine blue water bodies. They receive stormwater, sewage,

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00:48:03

Growing a Water-Reuse Startup in Bengaluru | Vikas...

The WELL Labs Show ·

2026/06/04

Bengaluru needs more water, but one of its closest available sources is often ignored: used water. In this episode of The WELL Labs Show, Vikas explains how Boson Whitewater takes treated wastewater from apartment sewage treatment plants and government STPs, further purifies it through multiple stages, and supplies it for industrial and commercial uses such as cooling towers, laundries, construction, boilers, electroplating and other applications.Vikas Brahmavar, Founder and CEO of Boson Whitewater

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00:40:02

Developing Water-Sensitive Cities in India with Veena...

The WELL Labs Show ·

2026/05/21

Socio-hydrologist Veena Srinivasan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/veenasrinivasan/?originalSubdomain=in) joins host Pavan Srinath (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavansrinath/?originalSubdomain=in) to unpack what it means to build water-sensitive cities in India — cities that look beyond pipes and taps, and start managing groundwater, rainwater, stormwater, wastewater, lakes and rivers as one connected system.As Indian cities grow, they often look farther away for water — to distant rivers, reservoirs

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00:42:44

Canal Irrigation in Modern India with Teju Kumar N |...

The WELL Labs Show ·

2026/05/07

Teju Kumar N (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tejukmr/), Assistant Engineer at the Advanced Centre for Integrated Water Resources Management (ACIWRM), Government of Karnataka, joins host Pavan Srinath (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavansrinath/) on this episode of The WELL Labs Show to unpack how canal irrigation works — from dams and command areas to distributaries, field channels, gates, aqueducts, and last-mile water delivery.India’s most productive farmlands are often irrigated, and canals remain

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00:49:13

Labour and Water Conservation with Karan Misquitta |...

The WELL Labs Show ·

2026/04/23

Watershed researcher Karan Misquitta joins host Pavan Srinath to unpack how water conservation, labour, and technology have shaped India’s landscapes over more than a century.This episode explores the evolution of watershed development — from colonial-era famine relief works to modern-day machine-led interventions. Karan explains how droughts historically led to labour-based public works, why soil and water conservation became central to rural employment programmes, and how structures like bunds,

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00:41:56

Aquifers of North India and the Indo-Gangetic Plains...

The WELL Labs Show ·

2026/04/09

Hydrogeologist Vivek Grewal (https://www.linkedin.com/in/viveksinghgrewal/) joins host Pavan Srinath (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavansrinath/?originalSubdomain=in) once again to unpack the basic science of groundwater and to explain how groundwater behaves in one of India’s most important hydrogeological regions.Where does groundwater fit in the water story? Vivek explains why most of the world’s liquid freshwater exists underground, how rainfall becomes groundwater, and how rivers like the

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00:44:53

Preparing for Bengaluru's Next Water Crisis with...

The WELL Labs Show ·

2026/03/26

Veena Srinivasan and Gayathri Muraleedharan join host Pavan Srinath on this episode of The WELL Labs Show to unpack the nature of Bangalore’s water crisis — what caused the severe summer crisis of 2024, why similar crises may recur, and what the city can do to avoid lurching from one groundwater emergency to the next.The conversation explores why Bangalore’s water crisis is not a “Day Zero” reservoir crisis like Cape Town or Chennai, but fundamentally a groundwater crisis. Veena and Gayathri explain

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00:41:29

Pathways of Development and Climate with John Thompson

The WELL Labs Show ·

2026/03/12

In this episode of The WELL Labs Show, John Thompson , a leading researcher in development studies and sustainability, joins the host Arjuna Srinidhi, to unpack the idea of “Pathways Approaches” and what it means for building climate resilience in complex systems.The conversation explores how dominant development pathways in agriculture, water systems, or food systems often become locked in through policy, markets, and institutional incentives. John explains how the Pathways Approach helps

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01:19:44

The Social Science of Water: Beyond Hydrology ft...

The WELL Labs Show ·

2026/03/04

What does water have to do with power, caste, labor, and economic policy?In this episode of the Water Data Podcast, Professor Trevor Birkenholtz (Penn State University) explains how political ecology helps us understand groundwater, irrigation, and large-scale water infrastructure in India.Trevor Birkenholtz is a political ecologist and development geographer with regional interests in South Asia and the United States. His empirical interests are in water-supply development, water infrastructure,

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01:18:20

Himanshu Kulkarni and Indian Hydrogeology | The Water...

The WELL Labs Show ·

2026/02/26

In this episode of The Water Data Podcast, host Veena Srinivasan (https://scholar.google.com/citations?... )speaks with Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni(https://www.researchgate.net/profile/... ), hydrogeologist and co-founder of ACWADAM, about groundwater science in India – from basalt aquifers and rural irrigation to springshed revival in the Himalayas and participatory groundwater management.This episode was recorded in November 2025 on the sidelines of a two-day event celebrating the life and work of Dr

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01:59:09

Research for Climate Adaptation and Resilience with...

The WELL Labs Show ·

2026/02/26

In this episode, Bruce Currie-Alder from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, joins host Veena Srinivasan to unpack the vision behind the CLARE (Climate Adaptation and Resilience) programme – a global initiative supporting action-oriented climate adaptation research across Africa and Asia.As climate change unfolds in real time, Bruce argues that research can no longer operate at a distance from action. Instead, it must be embedded within development processes, communities,

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00:59:30

Participatory Groundwater Management with Himanshu...

The WELL Labs Show ·

2026/02/17

In this episode of The Water Data Podcast, host Veena Srinivasan speaks with Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni, hydrogeologist and co-founder of ACWADAM, about groundwater science in India – from basalt aquifers and rural irrigation to springshed revival in the Himalayas and participatory groundwater management.This episode was recorded in November 2025 on the sidelines of a two-day event celebrating the life and work of Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni, marking his recognition with the 2025 International Water Prize by

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00:43:54

Maharashtra's Groundwater and Basaltic Aquifers with...

The WELL Labs Show ·

2026/02/12

Hydrogeologist Vivek Grewal joins host Pavan Srinath to unpack how Maharashtra’s basalt geology shapes groundwater and why managing it requires thinking in layers.The conversation explores how the Deccan Traps were formed, how vesicles, fractures and weathered rock store water, and why groundwater in Maharashtra behaves very differently from granite aquifers in South India.Vivek takes us from mantle plumes and lava flows 65 million years ago to today’s seasonal and perennial aquifers, open wells

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00:37:55

Wastewater Treatment Explained with Deepthi Nagappa

The WELL Labs Show ·

2026/01/29

Environmental Engineer Deepthi Nagappa joins host Pavan Srinath to unpack what really happens to wastewater after we flush the toilet. The conversation explores how sewage treatment plants work, the difference between grey water and black water, what septic tanks actually do, and what nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus do to our ecosystems.In the fifth episode of The WELL Labs Show, Deepthi takes us inside the science and engineering of wastewater treatment - from microbes and sludge to aeration

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01:12:39

Running the Odisha Millets Mission with Ashima Chaudhary

The WELL Labs Show ·

2026/01/15

In the fourth episode of The WELL Labs Show, host Pavan Srinath is joined by Ashima Chaudhary (Managing Partner, Rural Futures, WELL Labs) to unpack how millets went from being seen as “poor people’s food” to becoming a serious solution for nutrition, climate resilience, and farmer livelihoods.Ashima previously worked with WASSAN, where she was the State Programme Coordinator for the Odisha Millets Mission. The conversation explores what millets are, how they are commonly classified (major vs minor

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00:40:50

South India's Groundwater Explained | Vivek Grewal

The WELL Labs Show ·

2025/12/18

Hydrogeologist Vivek Grewal helps host Pavan Srinath understand the aquifers and the groundwater in South India's hard-rock landscapes. This is a third episode of The WELL Labs Show. The conversation explores why borewells keep getting deeper year after year, why wells dry up by January even after a good monsoon, and what it actually takes to address groundwater challenges in regions with hard rock.Drawing on simple analogies, field experiences from WELL Labs’ technical consulting work across

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01:01:43

Cooperatives and Rural Development | Syamkrishnan P...

The WELL Labs Show ·

2025/12/04

In the second episode of The WELL Labs Show, host Pavan Srinath sits down with Syamkrishnan P Aryan, Senior Program Manager at WELL Labs, to unpack the world of cooperatives - from Amul’s legendary three-tier model to the future of digital platform cooperatives in India.In this episode, Syam shares how milk producers in Anand challenged exploitative supply chains and created the Amul movement, why cooperatives succeed when they stay member-centric, and how cooperative principles can help rural India

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00:46:37

The Science of Bengaluru's Lakes | Veena Srinivasan

The WELL Labs Show ·

2025/11/20

In this first episode of The WELL Labs Show, host Pavan Srinath sits down with Dr. Veena Srinivasan, socio-hydrologist and Executive Director at WELL Labs, to unpack the science behind these Bengaluru’s lakes.In this episode, they dive into lake hydrology, lake chemistry and biology and explore how urbanisation, sewage bypasses, wetland design, and silt/sludge management changes how lakes function today. Veena also suggests what could be the possible studies that need to be conducted to solve this

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00:00:30

Trailer - Welcome to the WELL Labs Show!

The WELL Labs Show ·

2025/11/13

We are excited to share a brand new show featuring the people and partners of WELL Labs – where they talk about water, environment, land and livelihoods. Join host Pavan Srinath to learn more about the science, the systems and the stories behind complex issues. New Episodes out every other Thursday, starting November 20, 2025.

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