“It’s not on the map!”

Recently, Roxanne shared with me a photo of her standing at a large dam, blocking a small river in the beautiful rural landscape of southern Spain. She was on holidays, but the AMBER app begged for her attention. She took out her phone to mark the location on the Barrier Tracker App. First, out of curiosity, she checked the existing map, with data from the regional authorities. The dam was not there. Yes! “To be honest, it felt a little bit as a victory. I found something! It was not about blaming the original database, but about being able to add to the map. As if I was a true explorer.” Roxanne Diaz is the new communication specialist in the AMBER team and I am glad she shares the AMBER spirit. I think this is what AMBER is about, combining knowledge from many people to go to a next level with water management, driven by eagerness to explore and find new insights.

For years water management has been an issue on the background. For decades people have taken clean and low water risks for granted, especially people living in urban areas. With the first possible signs of climate change, this is changing. Slowly but surely it is understood that water scarcity or too much water can be a real issue for all of us in Europe. It is understood that we need to act on this, whilst it is also understood that we need to act with respect for social and ecological consequences of water infrastructure. There is so much to learn and explore. I think the project AMBER is actually the beginning to better understand how we deal with an unsure future when it comes to water management. There is no clear path how to deal with that, but what we can do together is to make the map more complete to find it. It just needs a lot of people who like exploring and sharing information! Will you join us?