The WELL Labs Show

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 co...

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 wa...

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, constructi...

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 conn...

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, aqueduc...

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 s...

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...

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” reser...

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 t...

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 ope...

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 ma...

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 t...

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 Mille...

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...

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, wh...

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 functi...

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.