The Youth Water Monitoring Portal is part of the RésEau Portal, an initiative of Environment Canada, which is calling on various ministries, schools and community organizations to help centralize water data. The Comité de valorisation de la rivière Beauport (CVRB) and the Biosphère of Environment Canada, whose various aquatic ecosystem monitoring programs involve some 10,000 young people, have joined in this initiative.

Despite its name, the Youth Water Monitoring Portal is for people of all ages. In fact, thanks to the wide variety of data and topics it covers, there is something for everyone.

The Portal is an absolute must for young people interested in water! Discover dynamic educational programs that students 9 to 17 years old in Quebec and Ontario participate in. Whether the projects are part of the school curriculum or done as extra-curricular activities, participating classes collect different types of water data and write a report. Their results are then mapped and explained through information capsules that show you even more about the parameters studied and their significance in your day-to-day life.

The Portal is a wonderful tool for teachers. It provides descriptions of the education programs offered by the CVRB and the Biosphère, but the data collected by participating schools, the maps, and the information capsules make it an important teaching tool in its own right. And if your class already participates in one of our projects, the Portal is a great way to promote your community actions and to integrate information and communications technology into your teaching.

The Portal is a veritable data mine for scientists. Metadata make it easy to navigate the portal and find exactly what you are looking for. You can even download raw data collected by our participating groups. The geographical range of the data and the ease with which you can view them will amaze you.

For the general public, the Portal is an excellent source of information on the water in your area. You can find information on groups active in your area, the state of nearby aquatic ecosystems, the means employed to protect them, and information capsules on the parameters studied.