Archive page

FreshWater Watch, and what lived at this address

This subdomain historically hosted materials for FreshWater Watch, the global citizen science water monitoring programme led by the environmental charity Earthwatch. Many research articles, institutional pages and environmental resources still link here, and this page exists so those links continue to land somewhere useful rather than on an error.

Looking for the programme itself? FreshWater Watch is active and belongs to Earthwatch. The living programme is at freshwaterwatch.org, and Earthwatch Europe describes its current UK and international work, including its role in monitoring for UN Sustainable Development Goal indicator 6.3.2 on ambient water quality, at earthwatch.org.uk. This archive page is not affiliated with Earthwatch; it simply preserves the address.

What FreshWater Watch does

FreshWater Watch trains volunteers to sample the freshwater bodies near them, rivers, lakes, ponds and streams, using simple standardised kits: colorimetric tests for nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates, turbidity measures for water clarity, and structured observations of the surrounding habitat. Thousands of individual measurements, each small on its own, add up to a picture of freshwater health at a scale professional monitoring alone cannot afford, and the results have supported peer-reviewed research and national water quality reporting.

Diagram of a freshwater ecosystem showing the catchment, riparian zone, and the nutrient and sediment pathways from land use into a river and lake — A freshwater ecosystem in one picture: what happens on the land arrives in the water. Nutrient runoff, sediment and discharges move through the catchment into rivers and lakes, which is why both citizen monitoring and household testing start from the same question: what is upstream of you? (Original diagram for this archive; free to reuse with a link.)

What citizen monitoring teaches a household

The programme's core idea, that you learn what is in water by measuring it rather than assuming, applies one tap further downstream too. If you are on a private well, nobody monitors your drinking water but you: an annual bacteria and nitrate test is the standard minimum, and a broader laboratory panel guides any treatment decision. If you are on a public supply, your utility publishes an annual water quality report worth actually reading.

The practical guides for that live on this domain's main site: how to check whether your tap water is safe, how to get well water tested near you, and what to do about hard water once a test gives you a number.

Sources and further reading

FreshWater Watch programme: freshwaterwatch.org. Earthwatch Europe on FreshWater Watch and SDG indicator 6.3.2: earthwatch.org.uk. United Nations SDG indicator 6.3.2 (proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality): sdgs.un.org/goals/goal6.