Organic matter is just one way of looking at water quality, and how it is affected by how we use both our land and water resources. We believe that it is a powerful measure that integrates ecosystem function and well-being, human health, as well as the global carbon cycle (the very definition of organic matter being chemicals composed of carbon!)
Our aim is to help the community produce a snapshot of its water quality through organic matter, noting all of the different land uses (like urban areas, intact forests, forests that have been logged), and human activities (like hiking, boating, biking, and recreation) occurring within our watersheds that could affect how much and what types of organic matter are present.
All data collected by community participants – like site information (such as location and types of human activities present) as well as water quality – is displayed on the WaterLogged homepage. Project participants, as well as anybody curious about surface water qualities within the study area, can compare different locations on the basis of their degree of human impact and water quality.
This project is part of work currently being done within the Ecohydrology group at the University of British Columbia. Our group, lead by Dr. Mark Johnson, looks at how water interacts with ecosystem processes, and how these interacting cycles are affected (positively and negatively) by different types of human influences.
Photo credit: Jenny Labrie
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