Media

Here is some selected coverage.

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Feature Stories

Princeton Alumni Weekly, In a Dry Country. A fine piece by Mark Bernstein with great photos from Steven Anderson. From the March 16, 2016 issue.

Tufts Magazine, Not a Drop to Drink.  Michael Blanding’s feature story for the Fall, 2015 issue.

Good Magazine,  How the “Al Gore of Water” is Turning Data into Action, Katie Wudel’s flattering story on our work. May 22, 2015.

The Late Late Show with James Corden. James devotes one of his first monologues to my March 12, 2015 LA Times op-ed. March 24, 2015.

OC Weekly: An Inconvenient Thirst. Matt Coker pulls out all the stops in this epic bio-piece with great links to my op-eds, blog posts, papers and videos. November 12, 2014.

Los Angeles Times: Patt Morrison Asks column, February 19, 2014.  A fun Q&A with the renowned SoCal columnist and radio host. Plus a bunch of great photos from photographer Allen Schaben.  Water Pistol.

Orange County Register: Pat Brennan’s feature on our research and mission, Earth’s potential next crisis: H2-uh-oh, April 24, 2013

The New York Times: A. O. Scott’s May 3, 2012 review of Last Call at the Oasis. When there really is not a drop to drink: ‘Last Call at the Oasis: A documentary about water supplies.

Princeton Alumni Weekly: Eric Hand’s piece from the April, 2012 issue. Sounding the alarm.

New Scientist:  Chelsea Wald covers one of the most important themes of my talks, writing and research — that we don’t know how much water we have, especially groundwater.  February 15, 2012. Uncharted waters: Probing aquifers to head off war.The New York Times:

The New York Times: Felicity Barringer’s feature story from the May 31, 2011 Science Times section. Groundwater depletion is detected from space.

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Selected Television (more here)

H2O: The Molecule That Made Us, the 3-part water documentary series from Passion Pictures that premiered on Earth Day, April 22, 2020.  I appeared in Episode 3, called Crisis, which orignially aired on May 6, 2020.

Years of Living Dangerously, The Uprooted: Death of the Central Valley. Tom Casciato and John Pappas capture the urgency of the message of California’s chronic water scarcity in episode 3 of the second season of this game-changing series. What a pleasure to have met and talked water with Don Cheadle.   November 9, 2016.

VICE, End of Water, Vikram Ganhdi’s wake up call on the global water crisis. March 4, 2016.

All in with Chris Hayes, live interview from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, “California is Running Out of Water,” July 17, 2015

The Rachel Maddow Show, Rachel does an excellent job setting up how we use gravity data to track groundwater storage changes in an interview following our groundwater depletion papers, “New research sounds alarm on global water supply,” June 17, 2015

PBS NewsHour, Judy Woodruff interview on our global groundwater depletion papers, “Is the world’s freshwater supply running out?” June 17, 2015.

Tavis Smiley, a fun, Earth Day interview on the California drought, April 22, 2015.

CBS This Morning, Ben Tracy’s “How long can Calif. farmers dodge water restrictions?” filmed on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015

Real Time with Bill Maher. What a pleasure to be the mid-show interview guest. Lots of fun! ‘When in Drought,‘ March 27, 2015

60 Minutes, Water, Lesley Stahl reports on the California drought, groundwater depletion, and our work with the NASA GRACE mission, November 16, 2014

Pivot, Last Call at the Oasis, The Current Crisis. Updates to the movie from director Jessica Yu, in short form here, and the full 30 minute update on Pivot

CBS This Morning, Colorado River drying up at alarming rate, July 26, 2014

CNN/Fareed Zakaria GPS: The coming water wars, February 24, 2013

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Newspaper

New York Times, World’s Aquifers Losing Replenishment Race, Felicity Barringer follows up on her 2011 feature story, June 25, 2016.

Times of India, Water haves and have-nots will lead to social tension, Q and A with ToI reporter Namita Devidayal, April 30, 2016.

Washington Post, Earth’s groundwater reserves dwindling, Todd Frankel’s front-page coverage of our global groundwater stress work, June 17, 2015.

Orange County Register, Orange County’s 100 Most Influential, what an honor to be included on such an impressive list. Thanks to Aaron Orlowski for a great write-up.  December 22, 2014

Financial Times, Drought drains critical US water supply, from Pilita Clark, July 24, 2014

The Guardian: Suzanne Goldenberg’s widely read story “Why global water shortages pose threat of terror and war,” February 8, 2014.

The Globe and Mail: Ivan Semeniuk’s timely story,  Satellite data hinted at Alberta floods weeks ago, June 25, 2013.

The Jerusalem Post: “Water crisis as much about management as nature.” February 21, 2013.

Times of India: Middle East rapidly losing freshwater reserves, February 13, 2013.

Los Angeles Times: Margo Roosevelt’s coverage of our paper on increasing global river

flows.  A rise in river flows causes alarm. October 5, 2010.

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Magazines

National Geographic, Peter Miller visits the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and reports on new technologies for tracking water from above. To Take Earth’s Pulse, You Have to Fly High. October 15, 2015.

Ensia, Cynthia Barnett (Blue Revolution) covers groundwater depletion in Groundwater Wake-Up, August 19, 2013

Nature, Katie Bourzac reports on Water: The Flow of Technology for the September 26, 2013 supplement on Agriculture and Drought

Smithsonian Magazine, Joshua Hammer asks “Is Lack of Water to Blame for the Conflict in Syria?”  June, 2013

The Economist, The Tigris and Euphrates, Less Fertile Crescent, March 9, 2013

Sierra Magazine, Dashka Slater’s “Woe is Us” column. Running Dry. Nov/Dec, 2012

Pacific Standard, Michael Haederle’s fine story on GRACE. Texas, Tom and Jerry, and a Thirsty Planet. May 15, 2012

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Radio

PRI’s The World. Iran wasn’t ready for these huge floods. But they should get ready for more in the future. Shirin Jaafari, April 29, 2019

NPR, Here & Now, California Drought Eases But It’s Far From Over, great conversation with H&N’s Jeremy Hobson on why the California drought is not yet over, May 5, 2016.

PRI’s Innovation Hub, Rethinking Water Use, a discussion about California’s chronic water scarcity and what it means for food production, February 12, 2016.

BBC World Service, Newshour, Interview with host Tim Franks on our global groundwater depletion papers,(starts at 38:00) June 17, 2015

KPCC, SoCal Public Radio, Take Two: ‘Mad Max’ is a glimpse of our drought future. Great to hang out with A. Martinez and producer Leo to be the first guest on ‘Movies with Experts.’  Listen as we discuss the water/dry/dusty aspects of Mad Max and their relevance to the current situation in California, the U. S. and around the world. May 18, 2015

KPCC SoCal Public Radio, Air Talk: Nestle Waters North America CEO Tim Brown and I debate the ethics of bottling and selling water in California during the drought.  After I ask Tim whether Nestle has any plans to curtail bottling operations in California, he delivers his now infamous bombshell quote “Absolutely not. In fact, if I could increase it, I would.” May 13, 2015.

BBC, Radio 5 Live, Up All Night with Rod Sharp, interview with Peter Bowes on the

California drought from Los Angeles, April 8, 2015 (starts at 1:14:51)

NPR, All Things Considered, Rain Eases California Drought Anxiety, If Not The Actual Drought, December 31, 2014

NPR, Morning Edition, Groundwater is drying up fast under western states, study finds, July 31, 2014

KPCC, SoCal Public Radio, Take Two, Groundwater loss in Colorado River basin threatens water security in west, July 2014, 2014

PRI’s Science Friday, As California Dries Up, Locals Hope for El Nino, July 18, 2014

KPCC, SoCal Public Radio. AirTalk, Should California regulate its groundwater?  November 7, 2013

PRI’s The World, Climate, water and the Syrian civil war, September 27, 2013

BBC World Service, Science in Action: Satellite recording of groundwater depletion in Middle East, first broadcast February 28, 2013

KLOS, Spotlight on the Community, Interview with Cynthia Fox, one my favorite interviews, August 26, 2012

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Tweets

Arnold Schwarzenegger Tweets about LA Times Op-Ed, March 13, 2015

Bill Moyers Tweets about 11 trillion gallons, December 18, 2014

John McCain Tweets about Colorado River Basin water security study, July 25, 2014

Al Gore Tweets about Middle East study, February 16, 2013

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Blogs and Websites

TakePart, Is Jay Famiglietti the Al Gore of the Global Groundwater Crisis? November 4, 2014

Mashable, Global groundwater crisis may get worse as the world warms , from Andrew Freedman, October 29, 2014

National Geographic, Water Currents, Sandra Postel reports on our Colorado River Basin paper, Groundwater Depletion in Colorado River Basin Poses Big Risk to Water Security, July 30, 2014

Circle of Blue: In Colorado River Basin, Groundwater is Disappearing Much Faster Than Lake Mead, another fine piece from Brett Walton, July 24, 2014

The New York Times, Dot Earth: Andy Revkin covers my Middle East National Geographic Water Currents piece. February 23, 2013. Satellite tracking of Middle East aquifers points to end of ‘data denial‘

National Geographic, Water Currents: Brian Howard reports on my July, 2012 drought testimony. “Drought is an Insidious and Patient Killer:” Water Currents’ Jay Famiglietti Testifies to Congress, July 26, 2012

Ecocentric Blog: Kyle Rabin’s “Avenging the Assault on Water: ‘Last Call at the Oasis’to the Rescue,”  May 21, 2012.

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Film and video (more here)

Water and Power: A California Heist. What a great pleasure working with the Jigsaw Productions team on Water and Power, and on the related Nat Geo Channel series called Parched. Read the NY Times and LA Times reviews.

Hammer Lectures, The Next Wave. I join the Pacific Institute’s Peter Gleick and UCLA’s Mark Gold for a panel discussion on the California drought at the Hammer Museum in Westwood. Down to Drops or Still at Gallons: The State of California’s Water Supply. September 24, 2015.

Aspen Ideas Festival, Great panel in the ‘Planet on the Brink’ session called ‘Deep Dive: Drought.’ I was joined by colleagues David Kennedy, Noah Diffenbaugh, Buzz Thompson, Pat Mulroy, Bill Philmore and Pete McBride.

RYOT News: Stacey Leasca’s great piece on the California drought, ‘Here are the complicated solutions to California’s complicated drought,’ March, 2015

Last Call at the Oasis:  Participant Media (An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for Superman, Food, Inc.)  Academy Award Winning Director Jessica Yu and Academy Award Nominated Producer Elise Pearlstein did an amazing job with their water documentary Last Call at the Oasis.  Here’s a clip that sets the tone for my contributions.   You can view a few others on our UCCHM YouTube channel.

TakePart.com:  outtakes from the update to Last Call at the Oasis, August, 2014.

Milken Institute Global Conference 2012:  Bloomberg/HuffPo’s Willow Bay moderated a great panel called ‘Water: Quenching the Planet’s Insatiable Thirst.’  You can also find the video here.

Congressional Testimony:  U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), July 25, 2012.  Watch the video (and read my Nat Geo post).

Heads Up! 2012 Times Square:  This contest (which encourages scientific communication through graphic design) gave our satellite research data on groundwater depletion, and measurements from the USGS, to design professionals, who competed to create graphical displays for the Thomson Reuters and NASDAQ signs in Times Square. The winning entry (picture and NY Times blog post ), from Richard Vijgen, ran in the ad sequence for one month, starting on World Water Day, March 22, 2012.

UCI/NASA GRACE Animations:  These were initially prepared with JPL for Last Call at the Oasis, and were featured prominently throughout the film.   These were recently updated for 60 Minutes. Check out the animations for India, the Middle East, and for California’s Central Valley.   Here’s a Hiperwall-friendly animation of California, prepared by the NASA Goddard Science Visualization Studio.

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Podcasts

Serving Up Science, an interview on The Future of Water Security on NPR’s weekly podcast from Michigan’s WKAR Public Media.  Great discussion with long-time colleague Sheril Kirshenbaum and WKAR host Karel Vega, August 7, 2019

Freakonomics Radio Live, the live version of the popular podacst, recorded in San Francisco.  Fun to talk water with host Stephen Dubner, co-host Angela Duckworth and fact-checker Mike Maughan.  Episode 381, Long-Term Thinking in a Start-Up Town, May 16, 2019.

The Water Values Podcast with Dave McGimpsey.  Groundwater Depletion and Water Conflict with Jay Famiglietti.  Dave does a great job with set of concise questions that result in a focused interview. January 1, 2019.

Forecast with Michael White, Nature‘s climate science editor. Mike and I discuss several apsects of my career, including how I got into hydrological aspects of the GRACE mission, the challenges of doing interdisciplinary research, our work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the importance of science communication,  and my move to the University of Saskatchewan.  Jay Famiglietti on GRACE and Global Hydrology, April 18, 2018.

Freshwater Talk with Joe Whitworth, fun conversation after meeting Joe at the 2017 Aspen-Nicholas Water Forum, Jay Famiglietti, Senior Water Scientist for NASA, October 8, 2017.

Hound Tall with Moshe Kasher, Drought, July 8, 2016.

Planet Money, NPR, The Bottom of the Well, Episode #640. Stacey Vanek Smith explores the disincentives for almond farmers to curtail groundwater use. July 22, 2015

Probably Science, An hour-long conversation with comedians Andy Wood, Matt Kirshen and Jesse Case.  Definitely worth the download!

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Quoted

Science, Erik Stodstad’s “Deep Deficit” highlights California’s unsustainable use of groundwater, from the April 17, 2020 issue on drought.

National Geographic, “What you need to know about the world’s water wars,” from Laura Parker, April 6, 2020

Esquire, Alec Wilkinson’s take on the water crisis, ‘The Water Crises Aren’t Coming – They’re Here‘, from the September 2018 issue.

The New York Times Magazine, Noah Gallagher Shannon’s insightful piece, ‘The Water Wars of Arizona,’ from July 22, 2018

The New York Times Magazine, Jon Gertner’s wonderful coverage of the NASA GRACE mission and what is at stake if Congress were to cut its budget. ‘What We Could Lose if a NASA Climate Mission Goes Dark,’ September 12, 2017.

National Geographic, Laura Parker’s piece on water scarcity on the midwest’s Ogallala aquifer, ‘What Happens to the U. S. Midwest When the Water’s Gone?’ from the August 2016 issue.

Foreign Policy, Charles Fishman’s article ‘Don’t Let Water Be the Problem,’ on water as a vehicle for conflict or collaboration, from the July/August 2015 issue.

ProPublica, from Abrahm Lustgarten’s year-long research effort, the excellent, multi-part “Killing the Colorado” series.  In “Less than Zero,” we cover the role of groundwater in the Colorado River basin’s declining water supply. June, 2015.

The New York Times, another great groundwater story from Matt Richtel, “California Farmers Dig Deeper for Water, Sipping Their Neighbors Dry,” June 5, 2015, and page 1 of the Business Section, June 7, 2015

The New Yorker, David Owen’s epic documents his journey down the Colorado River, “Where the River Runs Dry.” May 25, 2015

Newsweek, Elijah Wolfson’s comprehensive piece on the California drought, “Drying up: The race to save California from drought,” April 23, 2015

The New York Times, Justin Gillis and Matt Richtel’s “Beneath California Crops, Crisis Grows,” Apriil 5, 2015, and on the front page of the print edition, April 6, 2015.

The New York TImes, Quotation of the Day for Monday, Apriil 6, 2015

National Geographic, Michele Nijhuis’ story from the November, 2014 issue, “When the snows fail”

Mother Jones, Tom Philpott continues his fine reporting on food and water in “California Goes Nuts” from the November/December  2014 issue.

Los Angeles Times, Neela Banerjee’s article on water use for fracking, “Limited water presents challenge for natural gas fracking,” September 2, 2014

Financial Times, the first in Pilita Clark’s series on water scarcity, “A world without water,” July 14, 2014

Los Angeles Times, Uri Resnick’s Op-Ed, “A Water War in Israel? Hardly,” November 20, 2013

Time Magazine, Anita Hamilton’s “Droughtbusters“ report, October 3, 2011

The New York Times, Edward Wong’s series on water in China,  “Yangtze Rains Bring Drought Relief, and Floods.” June 8, 2011

USA Today, Kathy Chu’s report “From toilets to tap: How we get tap water from sewage.” March 2, 2011.

Nature, Mico Tatalovic, “Irrigation reform needed in Asia.” August 17, 2009.