Youth for Drinkable Rivers

A global network of young people working towards drinkable rivers

Hello! We are a community of young people with a passion for water. Some of us are young professionals, some are students, and some of us just have a big heart for healthy rivers. We spread the story about drinkable rivers to amplify the voice of the river – together with Li An. We organise different activities for a wide audience and involved parties. We connect with current events to create awareness about water quality, working towards our dream that one day we can take a sip from our local river.

We are always open to new participants! Are you interested and do you want to make a contribution – large or small – to drinkable rivers? Send us an email: youth@drinkablerivers.org.

See you soon.

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Nederrijn Walk (September 2025)

After the great success of the first Youth for Drinkable Rivers walk along the Dommel, it is time for the second walk for a drinkable Nederrijn. We will walk from the Pannerdens Kanaal (September 4), where the Nederrijn branches off from the Rhine, to the point where the Nederrijn flows into the Lek at Wijk bij Duurstede (September 7). Are you joining us?

Learn more about the Nederrijn Walk

Mark Walk (June 2025)

In June 2025 the Mark Walk took place. A boundary-crossing walk. We walked in four days from the source of the Mark, in the Belgian municipality of Merksplas, to Breda, where the Upper Mark flows into the Mark.
Along the way, we stopped at various places to reflect on themes such as water quality, water availability, safety and water experience, for a clean, healthy and safe Mark.

Learn more about the Mark Walk

Dommel Walk (April 2023)

Following in the footsteps of Li An Phoa, Youth for Drinkable Rivers, has organised a walk in the Meuse watershed, from the source of the river Dommel under Peer (18 April, Flanders, Belgium) to its confluence with the Meuse at Den Bosch (23 April, in the Netherlands). With this walk, we wanted to increase awareness around healthy and clean water and contribute to a healthy Dommel.

Learn more about the Dommel Walk

Help us to make our rivers drinkable again

Read about our campaign

Running for a Drinkable Meuse

On Sunday April 16th, the trainees of the National Water Traineeship will be running for a Drinkable Meuse, will you help us?

Drinkable rivers indicate a healthy living environment for humans and animals. When we can drink from a river, it means that the entire ecosystem is healthy and balanced. However, water from rivers can only be drinkable if all activities and relationships in a catchment area contribute to this.

We, trainees of the National Water, Soil and Energy Traineeship, are daily involved in tasks related to activities in a catchment area and water in our work. In addition, we are active in a personal development program in which we set challenging goals. We have combined this by participating in the NN Marathon in Rotterdam for a good cause (distances we participate in 42.2 km/10.55 km). The city of the Meuse, a river with important meaning for the Netherlands and a major challenge when it comes to water quality.