WWF-Canada joins Ottawa Riverkeeper to support citizen science at AquaHacking event

Building on WWF’s Freshwater Health Assessment, Ottawa Riverkeeper, a 2015 WWF-Canada Loblaw Water Fund grantee, is filling in the data gaps and working to raise the profile of the Ottawa River.

On May 29 and 30, WWF-Canada is taking part in AquaHacking 2015 at the Ottawa River Summit in Gatineau. This unique event unites citizens, field experts and digital professionals who believe technology can serve Canada’s waterways, with the same goal: that more data is the key to solving the issues that threaten the health our watersheds today.
It is important that through initiatives like the Ottawa River Summit, Canadians become aware of the lack of data and regular monitoring needed to ensure our watersheds are healthy. Through this initiative, Ottawa Riverkeeper is supporting a change in how local citizens can use technology to get involved and get to know their watersheds.
As part of our Freshwater Health Assessments, the Ottawa River is not meeting the minimum requirements for available and accessible monitoring data to confidently report on the watershed’s health. Ottawa Riverkeeper says that many challenges around monitoring and assessing the river’s health are related to the lack of coordination throughout the watershed, which spans two provinces and encompasses over 200 municipalities and many First Nation communities.
Stay tuned because next month we will be releasing new results of the health and newly developed threats assessment for 50 per cent of Canada’s watersheds, including the Ottawa River.