URI Watershed Watch
For 28 years, URI Watershed Watch has been coordinating hundreds of volunteers to collect water samples from RI’s rivers, lakes, streams, and coastal ponds. These samples form the basis of the RI Department of Environmental Management’s (RIDEM) required reports to EPA. Until 2013, however, Watershed Watch relied on individual, static excel spreadsheets to store and share these data, which was not an efficient process to support state reporting mandates.
To modernize this data management process, the CI provided a $100,000 Leveraging Grant to Watershed Watch to develop a comprehensive database to allow sharing of timely water quality information to members of the public and professionals alike. This robust database manages nearly a half-million lines of data previously generated by Watershed Watch and staff can now respond to inquiries within seconds.
CI provided Watershed Watch the means to share data and results quickly, saving numerous hours of staff time previously spent searching and collating data for mandated reports, research needs, and watershed group requests.Linda Green, director, Watershed Watch