Peter Debaere – Global Water Blog

Q&A with Mushfiq Mobarak on the elite capture of deep wells and the challenge of fighting arsenic in groundwater

Bangladesh’s water history is one of unintended consequences. What initially looked like a success story became a nightmare. After international organizations and the Bangladeshi government had supported a shift away from polluted surface water to groundwater use in the 1980s, arsenic was discovered in the groundwater of many rural…

By Peter Debaere- January 15, 2020

Environment, Water & Society, Water Policy, Water Quality

Q&A with Sheila Olmstead on the benefits of improved water quality

The question as to how important the benefits of clean water are has preoccupied economists and policy makers for a while. Sheila Olmstead, professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, and member of the Council of Economic Advisers during the…

By Peter Debaere- December 12, 2019

Water & Society

Q&A with Fernando Mercé about Nestlé and its water strategy

Fernando Mercé is a Darden alumn (MBA 1998) and the CEO of Nestlé Water North America, a 4.5 billion dollar company. He visited Darden on October 1st. He spoke to the MBA students about Nesté’s water strategy going forward, and the challenges of the bottled industry at large…

By Peter Debaere- October 29, 2019

Climate Change, Environment, Uncategorized

Q&A with Earl Swift on Tangier Island

As part of this year’s World Water Events (6th edition), the Global Water Initiative organized a panel on the Chesapeake Bay and how it has been affected by climate change. UVA’s own Larry Band emphasized how extreme weather events that trigger non-point source pollution (i.e. runoff…

By Peter Debaere- July 1, 2019

Climate Change, Environment

Q&A with Rong Fu about the Feedback Effect of Ecosystems (Vegetation) on Precipitation in the Amazon

As part of the World Water Events, Professor Rong Fu from the University of California at Los Angeles gave a talk at UVA. Rong Fu focused on a classic question relating to the water cycle and the extent to which vegetation can drive it. The title of the talk was…

By Peter Debaere- June 15, 2019

Water Policy, Water Quality

Q&A with David Keiser about the Economic Impact of Flint’s Water Crisis

To celebrate World Water Day, David Keiser gave a talk at the Batten Policy School at the University of Virginia. David Keiser is a prolific assistant professor at Iowa State University who has been writing about water quality. He is perhaps best known for his study with Joe Shapiro (Berkeley…

By Peter Debaere- June 3, 2019

Water & Society, Water Policy

Q&A with Ambassador Ram Aviram about Hydropolitics in the Jordan Basin

Ram Aviram hails from Israel. He was active for many years in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before becoming chief of staff for then–Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and subsequently, in the early 2000s, Israel’s ambassador to the Greece. For almost 30 years, Aviram has been involved in water…

By Peter Debaere- May 1, 2019

Water Policy, Water Productivity, Water Technology

Q&A with Ariel Dinar about Transboundary/International Basin Treaties

Danube map, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?Ariel Dinar grew up in Israel, an arid country that depends on upstream countries for its water supply. As a farmer in a Kibbutz relying on scarce water, Dinar was very aware of how precious a resource water could…

By Peter Debaere- April 1, 2019