Our rivers, lakes, and seas are at a crossroads. The call for action to fix our broken water system is deafening. The Government’s Clean Water Bill is promised as a set of ‘once in a generation’ reforms. From everything we’ve seen so far, they are set to miss out a crucial tool for monitoring and restoring our waterways: citizen science.

Citizen scientists have played a central role in revealing the state of our waterways and making their plight a major political issue. The Government’s Water White Paper, published in January, set out the direction they plan to take in upcoming reforms. There was not a single mention of citizen science.

We are calling on the Government to:

1.       Integrate citizen science data into official monitoring programmes.

2.       Formalise citizen science’s role in the Regional Systems Planners.

3.       Create catchment data platforms, featuring regulatory, water industry and citizen data.

Making use of citizen data is a win for people and the environment. To fix our rivers, lakes and seas will require every tool available. Vast citizen datasets and expertise are ready to be used to improve monitoring of our waterways, better direct investment, and protect the environment.

You can find out more about the Make Citizen Data Count campaign on the Future for Water Website. The campaign is supported by: Angling Trust, Avonvale River Action Group, Communities Against River Pollution, Earthwatch, HoTWater, Ilkley Clean River Group, Surfers Against Sewage, Thames 21, Water Testing River Thames, WildFish.

Add your name today to make citizen data count.