For three weeks, from September 18 to October 11, environmentalist Li An Phoa, the founder of the Dutch NGO Drinkable Rivers, and her partner, the journalist Maarten van der Schaaf, will walk through three different sections along the Romanian part of the Danube River in order to draw attention to the direct relation between the health of the rivers of the world and the quality of their waters. Their approach starts from the idea that a river is trully ecologically healthy when its waters are safe to drink.
The promenade intitled „Let’s make the Danube drinkable” is part of the European project Danube4all (Restoration of the Danube River Basin for ecosystems and people from mountains to coast) and involves daily walks on the routes agreed upon with project partners – WWF Romania, National Institute for Research and Development in Marine Geology and GeoEcology – GeoEcoMar and BOKU, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, Austria.
Environmental geologist Albert Scrieciu of GeoEcoMar, one of the organizers of the promenade, says that the choice of the Danube River was a natural one. The Danube is the very object of study of the DANUBE4all project, and this project is part of the Danube and Black Sea Lighthouse Initiative category – those scientific projects that the European Commission funds because they are issues of common European interest. As for the choice of the three sections from the Romanian side of the river – the mouth of the Danube in the Black Sea, the confluence with the Jiu River and the area on the border with Serbia, he points out that it was determined by the fact that each of these areas is unique in its own way. „First, we arrive on the banks of the lagoon system Reazelm – Sinoe, which is one of the three demonstration sites within the Danube4all project, and then we enter the heart of the Danube Delta. We will see together how the transverse and longitudinal barriers that the Danube encounters significantly reduce the amount of sediment transported by the Danube waters, which is why, at the mouths and on the beach, erosion phenomena can be observed. The next stop – the place where the Danube meets Jiu River – will make us better understand the influence of the tributaries, namely how the Jiu River contributes to the river dynamics. We chose this confluence because the Jiu River is a less anthropized tributary of the Danube River, the area being suitable for the implementation of nature-based solutions, namely to improve the lateral – longitudinal connectivity of the river, one of the objectives of the Danube4all project. The last area – the Danube on the border with Serbia – was chosen because the Iron Gates II are there, so we will look at the lateral and longitudinal barriers put in the way of the river. The Iron Gate Dam is a longitudinal barrier, while the banks represent the lateral barrier”, says Albert Scrieciu.
Li An Phoa – Drinkable Rivers: ”I truly believe that we need to reclaim our rivers and take care of them. When our rivers are ecologically healthy again, we will be able to drink their waters.”
Reporter: Li An Phoa, you seem to truly believe that drinking freely from a river’s waters without getting sick means that that river is healthy and its whole ecosystem is healthy and in balance. How did you come to this conclusion? Tell the Romanian audience a bit more about the drive inside you that became the need to organize the river walks.
Li An Phoa: Everything began in 2005 with my first wilderness experience as a researcher in the subarctic area of Northern Quebec. I joined a group of environmental activists who were protesting against the proposal of a hydro power plant in the Rupert River while canoeing the full length of that river. I was 24 and quite badly equipped: I did not have any canoe experience, nor the right tools, the right clothing. So, I didn’t bring many appropriate things, but what I did bring was a water filter. Towards the end of the first day, when I wanted to refill it as we were setting camp, my canoe peddler said: you don’t need a water filter here, you can drink straight from the river. As I took the first sip a tear rolled down my cheek. I was quite struck by the whole emotion. I said to myself: of course, this is how our ancestors drank water. It is a reality that I – and most of us – had totally forgotten.
Canoeing on the Rupert for a whole month, I could really deepen that experience. I came to understand that it is quite amazing that we can build thousands of kilometres of pipelines to bring water to all of our households and consider that to be normal. But it is not, it is actually quite genius that we have achieved that. Drinking from our rivers is now often considered crazy, but that used to be normal. I think that we have to reclaim our rivers and take care of them. When our rivers are ecologically healthy again, we can drink from them. Not only humans will benefit, but the whole ecosystem.
I was doing my Master degree in business at the time and wondered: Why do the Canadians want to build a hydro power plant in the Rupert? My answer was that Canada, just like any other country has an amoral economy, simply focused on economic growth. Whether they clean or pollute their rivers, they are doing so for economic reasons only. So, I realized that if we humans were to align our ways of living with the natural systems, then we can participate in the natural cycles and natural systems. That was the deep learning the Rupert River taught me.
Reporter: Did you ever return to the Rupert River valley?
Li An Phoa: Yes, I returned only three years later and found out with a shock that the water in the Rupert River was not drinkable anymore. What happened? An elderly woman, a member of the local indigenous community, told me that she got mercury poisoning as a result of drinking water from the river and eating fish that swam in it – something she had done all her life. However, since the dam was built, the water flow changed, big lakes appeared and the mercury that was used earlier in the mines got in touch with the river. The experience made me whisper to the river: from now on, my life’s goal will be to take care of the world of drinkable rivers.
Reporter: What happened after your return to the Netherlands?
Li An Phoa: Back home, I decided to study holistic ecology to learn more about what the river had taught me. I found a school in England called Schumacher College that offers progressive ecological studies. The ten years that followed I travelled the world mainly staying with local farmers, rangers, foresters, people that were very close to the land. I was interested in finding the answer to the question – how do we feed ourselves -, so I was looking at our food systems. And I fully understood that every time the success determining factor had been the quality of the water. The more I went into the land the more water became my main focus. After learning so much about healthy soils and forests, I started my own outdoor nomadic school in the Netherlands called Spring College and started organizing events, I would take groups on walks. I kept coming back to my original experience with the Rupert River. Doing one of the events, called Water Source of Life, and having in attendance 90 people, I publicly announced that I was going to keep my promise to the Rupert River, and, that I was going to dedicate my life to a world of drinkable rivers.
Reporter: You’ve managed to organize many riverwalks, starting with the Meuse River Walk in 2018 and continuing with Amstel in 2019, IJmeer in 2020, IJssel in 2021, Kleine Nete, Dommel, Vecht(e) and Thames, all in 2023, and Berkel in 2024. Tell us more about the first one – the Meuse River Walk and the significance of that walk.
Li An Phoa: I grew up in a suburb of Rotterdam not far from the river Meuse. In fact, the water of that river used to be the source of my drinking water in my youth. When I decided to dedicate my life to a world with drinkable rivers, I decided to walk along the Meuse, from its source in France to the North Sea, more than thousand kilometres in total.
I made a website, started to invite other people, asked people to collaborate. I also wrote a letter to all the French mayors along the Meuse, saying “Hello, would you like to walk with me?”, hoping to get into a conversation with them about the health of the Meuse. I wrote 144 letters, but most of them did not respond. However, the moment I started walking I started to meet them coincidentally along the way. Locals who walked with me pointed them out and introduced me to them. Most mayors understood why I was walking and I discovered that water was a main concern for them. In that summer of 2018, many villages along the Meuse were struggling with drought. They were used to get their drinking water from underground, so they were usually not dependent on the water of the river. But now, they were desperate, begging neighbouring communities to provide them with water. So, my vision for a world with drinkable rivers triggered them.
At some point I met a mayor in France and asked him “How many mayors do you know along the Meuse?”. And he said “Well, I only know the mayor upstream and the one downstream”. I told him that I had already met 30 mayors and asked ‘Do you think it would be valuable to be in touch with each other?” and he said “Yes, totally”. So, we agreed that after the walk would be completed, I would come back to set up a network of mayors for a Drinkable Meuse. And it did happen. Every year, one of the cities or villages along the Meuse organises the annual “Drinkable Meuse Mayors” conference. The majors and other policy makers discuss the health of the river, the changes and the plans for the future. This year, we already had our 6th conference with over hundred participants. I think the network is heading for a new phase now – just like children grow up and get more mature – we will be more action oriented.
What I would like to emphasize here is that everything happened quite spontaneously, I didn’t start with a plan, it sort of emerged, one idea followed by another. That’s how I operate. While I’m walking, I get to be fully aware of the needs and the opportunities for that particular river landscape. Nevertheless, the Meuse Walk led to something tangible: the Declaration of the Meuse Mayors, in which they all signed up to take care of a drinkable Meuse and committing to take continuous steps towards it.
Reporter: As The Danube Walk is part of the European project called Danube4all, can you please contextualize the reasons for choosing The Danube River? And why these 3 specific areas – the mouth along the Black Sea, the confluence of the Jiu River and lastly the one towards the Serbian border?
Li An Phoa: First of all, I’ve chosen the Danube for our next walk for personal reasons. I have been in love with Romania for six years now. Right after the Meuse Walk, I travelled to Romania for the first time. It was Transylvania that has always had this appeal to me, the wilderness and the authentic villages, the rural culture. I don’t really know where that interest came from. But for me Romania somehow resonates on a romantic level. I simply felt that I wanted to go to Romania.
I met some Dutch people living in Transylvania and organized some events with them. I would like to point out one of these in particular. In the Transylvanian village of Aluniș. I organized a week- long workshop with the funny title “Deal with your shit”. The workshop was about dealing with our actual shit (and the value of compost toilets), about dealing with psychological shit (and the value of non-violent communication), and about dealing with societal shit (and the value of drinkable rivers as a compass for society). The idea behind this was that when we are able to transform our shit into some form of compost, shit is something valuable, something good.
So, when professor Helmut Habersack, the DANUBE4all Lead Project Coordinator from BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, Austria contacted me to do a river walk along the Danube, I knew I wanted to walk along the Romanian part of the Danube. One third of the Danube is crossing Romania, almost all of the country is in the watershed of the Danube River, which makes the Danube really the lifeline for Romania. Growing up in the Rhine-Meuse Delta, I thought that it would be great to begin my walk in the Danube delta. Together with the Romanian partners – WWF Romania and GeoEcoMar -, we decided to choose the three sections for our walk – the mouth along the Black Sea, the confluence of the Jiu River and lastly the one towards the Serbian border.
Reporter: Tell us more about the events of the Danube Walk and about who do you hope your walking mates will be.
Li An Phoa: The walk starts on Wednesday 18 September, our first host being the vice-mayor of Jurilovca. Our group is made up of 27 scientists from BOKU University in Vienna and ten people from the Netherlands, Romania, Germany and Ukraine. It will be a very interesting, diverse group. As for the events during the walk, there will be everyday events with so many different people joining. There is this magic when you mix people, every group is unique and you cannot see that mixture happening again.
Every day, the walk will start at 10 o’clock and finish at 5 pm. Every morning we’ll do citizen science with schoolchildren. We organized citizen science with schools in Jurilovca, Enisala and Sarichioi. If the word spreads, maybe there will be more such meetings and the magic will happen again. In the evenings we are to be hosted by local people or fed by them, if they don’t have an extra room for us. The second big event will take place on 23 September in a wetland area restored by WWF Romania. During the second week, on the 26 of September, we’ll have a brief meeting with the scientists from a Dutch project called Blue Deal who are working there for many years now, and at the end of that week, on 4 October, another big group will come to join us. We’ll discuss the potential for restoring a wider wetland area there, the area being already confronted with drier periods of time, increased irrigations, so we will look both at the challenges and emphasize the potential. We hope that many local people, local farmers, and organizations will get involved. The third week, will comprise three walking days, a visit to the Iron Gate Museum, followed by the final event on 11th October that will take place at a high school near the Iron Gate Museum in Dobreta-Turnu Severin. In the afternoon we’ll take the train to Orșova to make a symbolic end of our walk with the view of the Danube River. Finally, on October 15, there will be a closing event hosted by the Dutch Embassy in Bucharest. Afterwards, I will take some time to let it all sink in. One of the outcomes of this walk will take the form of an action guide on how to organize such a river walk. We want to invite the partners in the Danube4all project to walk their own section of the Danube or the tributaries of the river, so that they could see the benefits of using the walk as a way to connect with people and discuss the value of the river with them.
Reporter: As a result of your 3 weeks walk, do you hope to inspire the Romanian local communities to work together to improve the water quality of the Danube, as it happened with “Mayors for a Drinkable Meuse”?
Li An Phoa: I’m coming to Romania to share my love for rivers. What I came to learn is that we, humans, although we live on the land, we do love water, water has a special meaning for all of us. Maybe it is related to the nine months we spent in our mothers womb, who knows. I like to make people aware that water is our lifeline, to such an extent that we are all dependent on water, no matter where or how we live. We are all linked with each other by water.
To answer your question, I do not aim to establish a mayor network along the Danube. What I do aim for is to understand what is needed here and then think of how we could support with that. It could take any form. Further, I hope that the conversations we’ll have in Romania will make people realize that the Danube River is special, something to be cherished, because its health can be gone in a snapshot, like it happened with the Rupert River in Canada. I also hope that our walk will help to strengthen local communities. Indeed, local communities can say “No, thank you” to politicians or investors who promise jobs and a better life while destroying the Danube. Yes, the economy will grow, jobs will be created, and life might get better for some time. However, those “twinkles” will benefit only a small number of people for a short time, while a healthy Danube river will take care of everyone for a long time.”