Reservoirs are part of co‐evolutionary processes with natural, social, and engineered elements and therefore, water scarcity needs to be analyzed with inter‐ and transdisciplinary approaches. Neglecting socio‐political interactions could lead to biased research agendas, misleading conclusions, and detrimental effects on the transformation process toward sustainability.

The design of side channels in the floodplain of Gameren, along the navigation channel of the river Rhine in the Netherlands, following the local DNA of the river. Left original situation 1994, right 2003, 4 years after reconstruction in 1999. (Photo's: Rijkswaterstaat Oost‐Nederland & RWS‐Beeldbank/Joop van Houdt).

Digital water transformation is uncertain, complex and contested. Here insights from the social sciences are applied to explore innovations in the water sector, highlighting issues of politics, justice and uncertainty, to establish a more socially informed view of digital water. (Source: Author original artwork).

Long‐term resistivity monitoring was used to investigate natural attenuation of oil‐contaminated sediments resulting from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill on an uninhabited island. The remote system (a,b) captured resistivity changes (c) attributed to oil degradation (modified from Heenan et al., 2014, Geophysics, 80(1), B1–B11).