Instant Genius Podcast: Global heatwave - could our taps soon run dry?

Last month saw the hottest June on record – and, while July has seen heavy downpours in the UK, much of Europe and the US experienced life-threatening heatwaves.

As things heat up, aquifers shrivel – and London’s 90-day supply of water means the city is never far from its taps running dry. That’s Day Zero: a benchmark that several cities around the world have come alarmingly close to – or, in some cases, even reached – in the last decade. But what happens when that day comes?

In today’s episode, we speak toProfessor Priti Parikh, infrastructure engineer at University College London, about the looming threat of Day Zero and how household tricks and national innovations can offer promising solutions.

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Listen to more episodes of Instant Genius:

• How loneliness can affect your health, and what you can do to combat it, with Prof Andrea Wigfield
• The Mysteries of the Octopus, with Prof David Scheel
• Why touch is our most misunderstood sense, with Prof Michael Banissy
• Allergies, with Theresa Macphail
• Why a four-day workweek could make you more productive, with Alex Pang
• The intriguing science of phages, with Tom Ireland