FLOW – Exploring watercourses, building knowledge together

Over 90 per cent of the watercourses in Germany that have been assessed by the authorities are in poor ecological status (Federal Environment Agency, 2022). At the same time, there is a lack of reliable data on the condition and pollutant levels of small watercourses – i.e. streams with catchment areas of less than 10 km² – as these are not adequately covered by the monitoring requirements of the European Water Framework Directive (EC WFD, 2000).

FLOW is a nationwide citizen science project for the ecological monitoring of watercourses (www.flow-projekt.de). As part of the project, citizen scientists from schools, environmental and angling clubs, and other groups investigate the condition of small streams that are not covered, or only inadequately covered, by official monitoring. Our aim is to support aquatic research whilst raising public awareness of the importance of our watercourses and the threats they face. Since 2021, around 200 groups, comprising a total of approximately 2,000 participants, have been involved in the FLOW project. To date, citizen scientists across Germany have investigated around 500 stream sections by assessing the stream structure, measuring the chemical and physical water quality, and identifying the community of invertebrates living on the stream bed (macrozoobenthos). The scientifically verified FLOW data show that the majority of the agricultural streams investigated are in poor ecological condition.