Over the past decades, the quality of our freshwater rivers has declined.
A huge, abstract problem.
But one woman made it small and practical: she simply started walking a river. And invited everyone along.
I admire Li An Phoa, founder of Drinkable Rivers.
She takes the biggest problem and makes it inzichtelijk — visible and tangible.
Starting at the source of the Meuse, she walks the river through villages and cities. Citizens join her for a stretch of the walk. She invites mayors and officials to join too. Together they measure the water quality.
One big problem, made practical through walking and stories.
And she has a positive vision of the result: river water becoming drinkable again, for us all. When the water becomes drinkable,
biodiversity improves, and life along the river improves.
Her community now measures rivers in twenty-two countries.
Here is the lesson for your business:
you cannot solve a huge problem. But you can make it walkable.
Pick one concrete indicator for your mission. Involve your community. Invite decision-makers to join you in person. And share a positive vision of the result.
A drinkable river is a shared KPI for how we live and work together. What happens upstream shows up downstream.
Here is your habit: The Adopt-a-Stream Walk.
Once a week, take a short walk along water near you. A stream, a river, a canal. Look at it. What do you see? Who lives there?
Then ask: where does my water come from, and where does it go?
One walk a week builds the connection that turns awareness into action.
SOURCES & REFERENCES
- Drinkable Rivers official website (drinkablerivers.org) — mission, citizen science program and measurement results.
- Kosmos Journal, contributor profile Li An Phoa — 1,061 km source-to-sea walk along the Meuse (Maas) and water quality citizen science.
- The Next Speaker, expert profile Li An Phoa — Mayors for a Drinkable Meuse, international mayors network.
- MonitorWater (EarthEcho) — “Drinkable Rivers Source to Sea Data Released”: daily sampling of the Meuse with local people, data adopted in TU Delft WaterLab.
- ReGeneration longread interview, “All we need to do is stop working against the wisdom of ecosystems” — citizen science volunteers in 22 countries; photographer for longread: Diane van der Marel.
- Drinkable Rivers blog, “Tracking the Health of our Rivers” (2024) — Thames source-to-sea measurements and community data patterns.
- Li An Phoa on LinkedIn
- Care for Drinkable Rivers | Li An Phoa | TEDxVenlo
Photo Source:
- Portrait photo of Li An Phoa from the Drinkable Rivers website
