Running Dry: Nik Kowsar on Iranian Censorship and Water Scarcity

What About Water? with Jay Famiglietti

For Nik Kowsar, civil unrest in Iran is not new. As a geologist and journalist, he's been sounding the alarm about water shortages and censorship in his home country for decades.

After being arrested and jailed for one of his cartoons and receiving death threats from pro-regime Islamists, Kowsar fled Iran in 2003.

Today, he is an award-winning Iranian-Canadian journalist and water issues analyst. He currently resides in Washington, D.C. where he produces and broadcasts 'Abangan; a weekly Persian-language show covering water issues for Iranian citizens.

In this episode, Kowsar shares the story about how and why he harnesses the power of media and technology to spread the word about water.In our Last Word, we turn to Daniel Harrich, a German documentary filmmaker who recently released the three-part documentary series “Unser Vasser” (Our Water) for the German Public Television Network, ARD. Jay traveled around the southwest United States with Daniel last year to film for the documentary, which now has over 5 million views.

And as promised, here is the “Water” episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver that Jay mentions in the show.