On this episode of Water Buffs, we examine how drought can harm human health, specifically how dramatic flucutations in water availability can lead to increasingly toxic water supplies.

Dr. James is an award-winning epidemiologist and engineer specializing in environmental and climate risk factors and their connection to health in vulnerable populations. She is an associate professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, one of three institutions that make up the Colorado School of Public Health. Dr. James recently spoke to journalist Melissa Bailey for a Water Desk-supported article, “Once 'paradise,' parched Colorado valley grapples with arsenic in water.” The article, originally published by KFF Health News, centered around Dr. James' community-based research projects that investigate exposure to heavy metals, in particular a rise in carcinogenic arsenic in drinking water in Colorado's drought-stricken San Luis Valley.

Brad Lancaster, author and expert on water harvesting, talks to Water Desk Director Mitch Tobin about how individuals and communities can make the most of rainfall and greywater to stretch local supplies. 

Brad Lancaster is the subject of a new documentary, Water Harvester: An Invitation to Abundance, that was produced by David Fenster, a journalist at Arizona Public Media and Water Desk grantee.

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