The Open Water Project aims to curate and develop novel water monitoring technologies and social systems that exemplify five main ideas:

• Open Hardware -- Water monitor designs and prototypes that are built to be as accessible as possible;
• Open Software -- Free and Open Source software for data analysis;
• Open Data -- Standard, plain text data formats that are easy to parse and share;
• Open Education -- Curriculum materials and trainings focused on water monitoring;
• Open Community -- Mailing lists and in-person meetups in support of water monitoring efforts.

Reference Designs & Techniques

Datalogger designs. Recording water parameter data over time is useful in a variety of contexts; open source hardware for accomplishing this is increasingly available, and is becoming more reliable. We'd like to faciliate and curate examples of accessible, open source datalogging hardware. Some examples include:

• The Riffle series of dataloggers. See the Riffle Design Philosophy Wiki, the Riffle Wiki, and the design files on github.
• The Stroud Research Center's Mayfly datalogger.
• The Adafruit Feather.
• Kina Smith's remote dendrometer design.
• Jack Summers and Ben Hickman's design.
• The Moteino design by Low Power Lab.
• Several other promising designs have been identified / proposed. For a sampling, see entries tagged "datalogger" on Publiclab.org.

Sensor designs. Identifying and developing accessible technologies for sensing various water parameters. As examples, see some references designs we have collected below:

• Conductivity
• Depth
• Turbidity
• Temperature
• Also see entries tagged "water-monitoring" and "water" on Public Lab.org.

Enclosures. Accessible ways of reliably deploying water monitors in the field. Various enclosures have been considered and tested. For more on this topic, see the "Enclosures" section of the Riffle Design Philosophy wiki, as well as some relevant tags on Public Lab.org as well as relevant discussions occurring on the EnviroDIY forums.

Calibration. Monitoring devices require calibration; some calibration materials and techniques are more accessible than others in terms of cost and complexity. We're looking to develop DIY calibration methods for various common water parameters. Some examples:

• Conductivity calibration
• Turbidity calibration

How to Contribute

• Public Lab maintains a water quality-focused mailing list; novel water monitoring designs are often posted as research notes.
• The Open Water Project has an associated Github organization that collects reference hardware and software designs.

Support

Development of the Open Water Project and the Riffle_328 design have been supported through Public Lab's Open Water Initiative, by Propeller, and by the 11th Hour Project.