"We have sufficient water... but we can't seem to manage the demand" - Laila Kasuri - Episode 47

An enlightening podcast on the current "water situation" both globally and in Pakistan. Our guest, Laila Kasuri has a Bachelors degree from Harvard University in engineering sciences, and a Masters in Water Resources Engineering from University of California, Davis. Laila talks about the various factors that affect water consumption, disposal and wastage. She gives us a nationwide picture of this amenity and then takes us on a macro level in terms of water stress and management. Also touches upon individual consumption and the dos and donts of making sure that we do not run out of water. She also talks about how old civilizations settled around water bodies and the role of agriculture based economies.

A development practitioner and multi-disciplinary engineer, Laila Kasuri has more than nine years of experience in the water sector, working on projects in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Jordan. She has played a key role in providing advisory support to international organizations and national and municipal governments on water policy and strategy development. Currently, she is working as a Water Investment and Policy Solutions Analyst with the Global Green Growth Institute.

Prior to this, Laila was a Faculty Associate at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) where she helped establish the Centre for Water Informatics and Technology. She has worked before as a water resources consultant with the World Bank; as a researcher at the UC Davis Centre for Watershed Sciences; as a research fellow with the Harvard Water Security Initiative; and as a consultant with the ADB-led Friends of Democratic Pakistan Water Sector Task Force. Laila has contributed to multiple reports and published in the Water Policy Journal, the Harvard College Review of Environment and the Handbook of Applied Hydrology, McGraw-Hill and has also been awarded many awards including the Interdisciplinary Graduate and Professional Student Association Award, the Corps of Engineers President’s Award for Excellence and the Thomas T. Hoopes Award for Outstanding Academic Research at Harvard. She is a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers Community and also Forbes 30 under 30 Asia list. 

Laila Kasuri Social Media Handles:

Website : medium.com/lailakay

Twitter : lailakasuri