The Community Water Science Framework is a conceptual model that depicts the process of stream monitoring and watershed science. It is not a novel concept, but rather a version of a Lifecycle of Data diagram specific to community water science. In our version, there are seven basic steps that monitoring programs can follow to ensure their data becomes actionable information: Design, Collection, Management, Analysis/Visualization, Modeling/Planning, Sharing/Communicating, and Evaluation. Below are the steps laid out simply.

Even in a time of hyper-connectivity, community water science is often left behind. With regionally fractured programs and different levels of capacity, organizations are left to fend for themselves in order to protect their local waters. The WDC’s Mainstem Network wants bring all facets of community-focused water quality monitoring under one umbrella from study design to data management. Community scientists are the frontline defense in the protection of our national waterways, the Mainstem Network is how we bring them all to the same table.

The Clean Water Hub is a collaborative tool to help people just like you track water quality in local creeks and streams. It’s a place to share your local data results so that we can make an impact. The Clean Water Hub enables you to play an active role in the act of conserving, monitoring, and restoring the quality of our nation’s streams and rivers. Let’s get to work – start sharing your data today.

Water Reporter is a social network optimized to support watershed initiatives. This is your community and it connects individuals with organizations actively working to protect and improve water quality.

WaterDAD (Distributed MS Access Database) is an open-access distributed relational database model originally developed by the North Carolina Aquatic Data Hub. The database allows users to enter, store, manage, retrieve, and share environmental data and metadata, including physical, biological, and chemical data commonly collected in stream and river monitoring programs.

WikiWatershed™ is a web toolkit to support citizens, conservation practitioners, municipal decision-makers, researchers, educators, and students to collaboratively advance knowledge and stewardship of fresh water. WikiWatershed web tools offer rapid visualization of watershed data, advanced geospatial analysis capabilities, and science-based predictions of human impacts on stormwater runoff and water quality. The intuitive user interface makes this easy to do in any modern web browser. Our vision is for users to share watershed-model scenarios, watershed-monitoring data, and watershed-management stories as an open, collaborative community. WikiWatershed has been built using open-source approaches and software.

Geographic Information Systems, or GIS, to compare the results of what is observed in water quality, with what is happening on the land. We know that when a given watershed contains greater than 10% impervious land cover, it will result in degraded water quality. We know community scientists want to monitor the areas that need it, and once establishing baselines, they will be able to identify areas for future restoration projects and/or conservation efforts.

This tool can help with both of those goals, and anyone can learn use it-whether it is your first experience with GIS, or if you have an ArcGIS Pro license. The rest of this Storymap will walk you through the data contained in the tool and the processes used to create it, as well as future plans for improvements and additions.