### The Goals

[Public Lab](http://publiclab.org) is working to make water quality monitoring more open. Our project has three main goals:

#### Open source water quality sensors and instrumentation
We're developing a low-cost, open source hardware device that will measure some of the most common water quality parameters , using a design that makes it possible for anyone to build, modify, and deploy water quality sensors in their own neighborhood. 

#### An open data online water quality platform
We're working with hydrologists and water resource managers to create easy, accessible ways for communities to share water quality data. 

#### Grassroots education, research, and action
We're bringing together citizens, students, researchers, and water resource managers to work on water quality issues that affect them locally. 

### The Plan

1. Develop a basic water quality sensor prototype design;
2. Develop a basic online water quality data platform; 
3. Hold an initial grassroots water quality workshop to identify next steps;
4. Continue to improve and expand upon the sensor technology, the online data repository, and the citizen science network. 

[See "Project Updates" below to see recent progress in these areas, and to find a way to join in!]

### The Team

We've assembled a world-class team of researchers and water resource managers, and our network of contributors and advisors is growing rapidly:

- [Mary Martin](http://www.eos.unh.edu/Faculty/mem) - Research Assistant Professor at the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, Space, University of New Hampshire
- [Mark Green](https://www.plymouth.edu/center-for-the-environment/people/faculty-staff/mark-green/) - Assistant Professor of Hydrology, Center for the Environment, Plymouth State University
- [Patrick Herron](http://www.linkedin.com/pub/patrick-herron/12/82b/bb1) - Water Quality Monitoring Director of the Mystic River Watershed Association
- [Jeff Walker](http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jeff-walker/11/4b5/298) - Doctoral Student in Water: Systems, Science and Socity program at Tufts University
- [Ben Gamari](http://bgamari.github.io/) - graduate student in Physics at UMass Amherst
- [Don Blair](http://dwblair.github.io/) - graduate student in Physics at UMass Amherst
- [Paula Rees](http://wrrc.umass.edu/about/wrrc-staff) - Director, Water Resources Research Center at UMass Amherst
- [Jennifer Welbourne](http://arms.arps.org/for_students/academics/teams/greylock/jennifer_welborn/)  Science Teacher at Amherst Middle School in Amherst, MA
- [Catherine d'Ignazio](http://civic.mit.edu/users/kanarinka) - Research Assistant at the Center for Civic Media at MIT
- [Andy Anderson](https://www.amherst.edu/people/facstaff/aanderson) - Academic Technology Specialist for Mathematical and Spatial Data Analysis at Amherst College.
- [The Public Lab community](http://publiclab.org)!

### Project Updates

We're currently crowdfunding a pilot project in the Mystic River watershed](https://ioby.org/project/mystic-river-open-water), and we're looking for support:

#### [Mystic River Open Water IOBY PIlot Project](https://ioby.org/project/mystic-river-open-water)