The EarthEcho Water Challenge program has united over 1.5 million participants around the world by connecting them to their local water resources through water quality monitoring, providing a platform to share water quality data with a global audience, and empowering participants to take action to protect their water resources. In 2018, for the first time in the program’s history, Water Challenge participants were given the opportunity to share their waterway conservation actions when logging their data through the EarthEcho Water Challenge database, allowing us to highlight the impact this work.
Inspired by their water quality monitoring, over 22,200 EarthEcho Water Challenge participants took action beyond monitoring this year, leading a variety of projects and campaigns designed to protect water resources in their local communities. Actions included planting native plants along stream banks to prevent erosion, leading in depth water education programs for students, removing invasive aquatic plant species, organizing waterway cleanups and plastic pollution prevention programs, installing pet waste disposal bags, incorporating water quality data into student science fair projects, and sharing data with local government officials.
We are grateful for the impact of all of our Water Challenge participants and their work to monitor and protect water resources around the world. In the year ahead we look forward to expanding the impact of this work, and equipping participants with new tools to aid in their efforts.
