Making Citizen Science Count Campaign

Citizen scientists helped expose the water crisis. Now the Government is drawing up its Water Reform Bill and they are being ignored again.

The White Paper that will shape the Bill runs to 50 pages. Citizen science is not mentioned once.

Over 21,000 volunteers have spent tens of thousands of hours testing our rivers, analysing data and holding polluters to account. That evidence is being left out of the new regulatory system and we are demanding that changes.

The Cunliffe Review recommended that there should be a democratic element of regional decision making. Yet, no commitments have been made. Citizen scientists are obvious candidates to a seat at the table, with deep knowledge about their rivers, lakes, and seas. The Government must commit to involving citizen scientists in the new regional planning system to give people and nature a voice.

Make Citizen Data Count sets out exactly how citizen science can be formally embedded into the Water Reform Bill, drawing on what already works in the US and the strong foundations already laid here in the UK. It makes three clear, practical demands:

1. Formalise citizen science’s role in the Regional Systems Planners.

2. Integrate accredited citizen science data into official monitoring programmes.

3. Create catchment data platforms, featuring regulatory, water industry and citizen data.Read the report and add your voice.