Become a water leader today

You need water, but water also needs you.

We are all connected to water. Our actions around water stewardship have a ripple effect that expands across our communities, across oceans and even over generations. We all play an integral part in creating healthy waters, healthy communities and a healthier future. A shared responsibility.

Becoming a water leader means that you connect with your water, collect data, share information, and restore our Lakes, rivers, and coasts by collaborating for a healthier future.

Learn more

The first step to exploring the Great Lakes is learning more about them. Embark on a virtual journey through the Great Lakes, exploring scientific discoveries, cultural connections, and personal narratives and get outside and explore!

Tips:

  • Biinaagami’s Giant Floor Map and educator resources provide curriculum-based learning opportunities for a wide variety of age groups and subject areas.
  • Biinaagami’s interactive online map provides endless opportunities to explore the watershed in a new light.
  • Biinaagami’s web stories provide fresh perspectives on the People, Places and Wildlife of the Great Lakes-St.Lawrence region.

Touch the water

The next step is to physically connect with the waters near you. Get outside and connect with the Great Lakes using platforms that help connect you with nearby waters, activities, and destinations throughout the Great Lakes St Lawrence Region.

Tips:

  • Your Great Lakes journey starts with Great Lakes Guide! This website is the key to unleashing your inner explorer, guiding you to places where you can connect with water and unearth the best activities and destinations.
  • You can use the Swim Guide to connect with thousands of swimmable waterfronts throughout the Great Lakes St. Lawrence River. Swim Guide provides you with the latest water quality, and shares stories and tips through Beach Basics
  • Visit waterfront parks and blue spaces like the Gord Edgar Downie Pier at Breakwater Park in Kingston to connect with our urban waters

Share your story

Somewhere, some water body is a part of your story, and for millions of people, those water bodies are our Great Lakes.

Watermark empowers people to share these personal stories – through written accounts, poetry, music, or art – creating a vibrant online tapestry. These narratives reveal diverse perspectives, historical observations, and valuable data for project partners, informing future community-based science initiatives.

Over 2000 people have shared Watermarks in the Great Lakes, add yours today!

Report pollution

Science and management in the Great Lakes relies on on-the-ground observations and reporting from concerned community members and community groups. You are the eyes at the waters’ edge! Tell us what you’re seeing!

Swim Drink Fish and partners have been crowd-sourcing user reports of pollution and coastal conditions from around the Great Lakes for years. Our tools are free, easy to use, and help you report pollution, shoreline erosion, algal blooms, aesthetic quality and more!

Tips:

Swim Drink Fish worker doing community outreach

Volunteer and show your support

Countless organizations, groups and people are doing great work throughout this enormous watershed. Find out how you can get involved with a network of knowledgeable, passionate and experienced water leaders near you.

Tips:

Start a Clean Water “Hub”

For communities wanting to address specific concerns, resources are not always readily available.

We provide resources that can guide emerging or existing community groups in creating new monitoring initiatives to focus on issues of local concern including a comprehensive “how-to” toolkit equipped with standardized protocols, monitoring guides, and even fundraising tools.

These resources empower communities to launch their own initiatives, adding valuable data points to the basin-wide network while tackling issues specific to their local environment.

Person sampling water

Make a difference

We help to equip local groups and individuals with tools to champion and implement projects that measurably improve on Great Lakes priorities.

Help existing initiatives grow by implementing their programs in your own communities and lending your support.

Tips:

  • Establish a Blue Flag Beach in your community
  • Support real-time monitoring of Combined Sewer Outfalls in your community to let people know when pollution is entering their waters
  • Make your community a Green Ribbon Champion by conserving and protect vegetation and wildlife found in dune environments

Explore the watershed