Learning how to monitor water quality is a first step in answering the question “How healthy are our creeks and rivers?” The health of our waterways is affected by the sheer combined impact of so many of us using water.

• Rivers have a life cycle much like a living organism. They are born from meltwater and they grow physically larger with each tributary stream that joins their flow. They mature as they pass through different landscapes and add chemical "memories" from each place they visit. They finish their life journey at the oceans and give rise to another generation of rivers through the water cycle.
• Changes in the life and health of a river affect the organisms that live there. Some of these changes occur naturally; some of them are influenced by people. Rivers can be healthy or unhealthy at any stage of their life.
• At some point in the life of a river, they eventually pass through our communities. We can visit briefly before seeing them off again on their journey to the ocean. These visits provide us with the opportunity to ask, "How are you doing?"

RiverWatch and CreekWatch is about chemical and biological monitoring as a first step in taking care of our water. How are we doing right now and what could we do differently in the future?

The health of our waterways is affected by the sheer combined impact of so many of us. Just look at everyone who uses rivers - anglers, boaters, dams, industries, agriculture, towns and cities.

RiverWatch and CreekWatch is about using chemical and biological monitoring as a first step in taking care of rivers.

How can people help care for rivers and creeks?

The First Step
The first step in taking care of rivers and creeks is to become more aware. "How healthy is our river or creek?" How would you know the answer to this question? Students and citizen science volunteers help by collecting science data from their local river.

Real World Science
RiverWatch and CreekWatch is real world science. Students and citizen science volunteers carefully collect data and examine their findings for patterns or changes in water quality. Their findings are presented graphically on this website. There is no correct answer and no one is better suited to conduct the research than caring people.

Long Term Study
The science data collected by RiverWatch and CreekWatch is important. Each day of observations is added to a database, and the data collected by many students and volunteers over many years helps identify trends and changes in water quality. Each new season of students and volunteers contributes to a growing understanding of Alberta waterways.

Personal Action
The science data collected by RiverWatch and CreekWatch is important. Each day of observations is added to a database, and the data collected by many students and volunteers over many years helps identify trends and changes in water quality. Each new season of students and volunteers contributes to a growing understanding of Alberta waterways.

"Anything else you're interested in is not going to happen if you can't breathe the air and drink the water. Don't sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet." --Carl Sagan