CrowdWater

Active

from 01/10/2016

The CrowdWater project is investigating how the public can be involved in the collection of hydrological data, as well as what value the collected data can have for hydrological forecasts. For this, CrowdWater relies on the support of voluntary participants: It is a citizen science project. 

Volunteers can collect and check data in various categories: 

  • Water level data with physical and virtual staff gauges
  • Qualitative data on soil moisture
  • Data on the dynamics of temporary streams
  • Data on the documentation of plastic pollution in and around water bodies
  • General data on various watercourses

CrowdWater is a SNF-funded project at the University of Zurich, Department of Geography, Unit Hydrology & Climate.


Aim

The long-term goal of the project is to collect a large number of observations and thus improve the prediction of hydrological events such as drought or flooding.

Participation & Audience

Target group: Any individual who is interested in the state of their local river, stream or lake, or who would like to improve the quality of water-related measurements anywhere around the world is encouraged to participate. Organizations and community groups can use the application for data collection and raising awareness. Universities can use the application for educational activities.

Number of participants: 3100

Duration of involvement: Flexible: from one-time to many year

How to participate

There are two forms of participation: Data collection and Data checking

Using the CrowdWater app (available for iOS and Android), you can collect hydrological data in different categories all over the world. In the online CrowdWater game you compare the uploads from the category “virtual staff gauge” and help with controling and improving the data quality.

You can login here to get to your spots or to enter a new observation via browser. If this is your first time contributing to the CrowdWater project, you can create an account on this site.

About funding

Funding bodies: Swiss National Science Foundation

Funding program: Project Funding

CrowdWater Go to Project Access Dataset
Water type
Surface water Soil water
Keywords
Observation Prediction Soil Moisture Crowdwater Game Water Level
Science Topics
Water Biodiversity Climate
Tags
Teaching materials available Do-it-yourself Participate from home
Difficulty Level
Easy
Participation tasks
Data Entry Measurement Observation Photography
Location
Global
Contact
E-mail
0 0 209
Created Oct. 15, 2025, 12:25 p.m.
Updated Oct. 27, 2025, 1:09 p.m.

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