• Engage an existing community group, or establish a new one. We suggest 5-20 members.
• As a group, agree what you would like to focus on in your FreshWater Watch project - do you want to monitor possible pollution sources? Understand the water quality at special sites? Monitor the impact of local restoration measures?
• Make sure you complete your 30-day challenge with ChangeX

• Once you have completed your 30-day challenge with ChangeX and received your funding, Earthwatch will get in touch to discuss your project, provide more resources and share an Agreement for the Group Manager to sign.
• Together we will work out how many water monitoring kits you need to cover your FreshWater Watch activities for your first six months.
• We will set up a personalised page for your group on our FreshWater Watch platform.

Earthwatch will invite you to an online training session and share online training resources, to explain and demonstrate how to:

• Register on the online platform
• Safely use the water monitoring kits
• Set up the mobile app
• Upload your data
• Interpret and analyse your results

Using this information, the Group Manager will train up your volunteers so that they can safely collect data and can use the online platform and/or mobile app.

• Your group can now get outside and start monitoring your chosen water body / bodies!
• We suggest you monitor once a month, but you can monitor more frequently if you wish.
• Upload your data in real-time via the mobile app, or use a paper datasheet and enter your written results at a desktop computer or laptop when you return home.

• Using the online visualisation tools, review and analyse your data.
• Work with Earthwatch to draw some conclusions from your data.
• Communicate your findings, with your group and wider - think about which local stakeholders you could engage.
• Action planning - with your group, consider what next steps you wish to take to take/drive action.