DataStream is a powerful online platform for sharing information about freshwater health. It is open access and built with communities, policy-makers and researchers in mind.
Our mission is to promote knowledge sharing and advance collaborative water stewardship.
Across Canada, communities and researchers are gathering important information about local watersheds – but too often data is managed in ways that makes collaboration difficult and expensive. DataStream provides a digital backbone for diverse monitoring groups to access, visualize, and download full water quality datasets. And, it’s the only known freshwater data platform to use leading blockchain technology. Click here to learn more.
By bringing water data together in one place, DataStream provides a clearer picture of freshwater health and a stronger foundation for making informed decisions.
DataStream is led by The Gordon Foundation at the national level and carried out in collaboration with regional partners in the Mackenzie River Basin, Lake Winnipeg watershed, and Atlantic Canada – and there’s room to grow.
Mackenzie Datastream
Mackenzie DataStream promotes knowledge sharing and collaborative decision making throughout the Mackenzie Basin – including hundreds of monitoring sites in British Columbia, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. This interactive website launched in 2016 with official events in Fort Smith and on Parliament Hill. It was built in partnership with communities and the Government of the Northwest Territories, DataStream’s founding partner.
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Atlantic Datastream
Explore data collected by over 30 monitoring groups in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. Atlantic DataStream launched in 2018 and helps you access, visualize and download full water quality datasets across the Atlantic provinces. It was built in partnership with the Atlantic Water Network.
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Lake Winnipeg Datastream
Launching March 20, 2019 in collaboration with the Lake Winnipeg Foundation.
The Lake Winnipeg Basin is one of North America’s largest – stretching from central Alberta to northwestern Ontario. Lake Winnipeg DataStream will provide an open-access home for freshwater data collected across this expansive basin.
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Mackenzie Datastream
Mackenzie DataStream promotes knowledge sharing and collaborative decision making throughout the Mackenzie Basin – including hundreds of monitoring sites in British Columbia, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. This interactive website launched in 2016 with official events in Fort Smith and on Parliament Hill. It was built in partnership with communities and the Government of the Northwest Territories, DataStream’s founding partner.
Visit Site
Atlantic Datastream
Explore data collected by over 30 monitoring groups in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. Atlantic DataStream launched in 2018 and helps you access, visualize and download full water quality datasets across the Atlantic provinces. It was built in partnership with the Atlantic Water Network.
Visit Site
Lake Winnipeg Datastream
Launching March 20, 2019 in collaboration with the Lake Winnipeg Foundation.
The Lake Winnipeg Basin is one of North America’s largest – stretching from central Alberta to northwestern Ontario. Lake Winnipeg DataStream will provide an open-access home for freshwater data collected across this expansive basin.
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Better Data Means Better Decisions
Communities can drive the data-to-policy cycle. DataStream is designed to support this.
DataStream provides a place to store, share, and compare water monitoring data across watersheds.
Open data advances scientific knowledge, supports collaboration, and fuels innovation.
Knowledge can be translated into action to protect the health of watersheds on which we all depend.
Communities are connected to their waters and best-placed to see changes as they happen.
DataStream provides a place to store, share, and compare water monitoring data across watersheds.
Open data advances scientific knowledge, supports collaboration, and fuels innovation.
Knowledge can be translated into action to protect the health of watersheds on which we all depend.
Communities are connected to their waters and best-placed to see changes as they happen.
What People Are Saying
Mackenzie DataStream will allow this data to be used in our community as well as by our neighbours downstream in Yukon, Alberta and the Northwest Territories”
We believe that Mackenzie DataStream will grow and inform the co-operative management of the Mackenzie Basin as a whole.”
Atlantic DataStream is the connecting thread for water quality management in Atlantic Canada. We’ve been working towards something like this for some time without realizing it. Now, with Atlantic DataStream we’re seeing data sharing and accessibility at a scale that has never existed beforehand in our region"
Mackenzie DataStream will allow this data to be used in our community as well as by our neighbours downstream in Yukon, Alberta and the Northwest Territories”
We believe that Mackenzie DataStream will grow and inform the co-operative management of the Mackenzie Basin as a whole.”
Atlantic DataStream is the connecting thread for water quality management in Atlantic Canada. We’ve been working towards something like this for some time without realizing it. Now, with Atlantic DataStream we’re seeing data sharing and accessibility at a scale that has never existed beforehand in our region"
Regional Partners
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LWF
Lake Winnipeg DataStream is coordinated locally by the Lake Winnipeg Foundation – an environmental non-governmental organization advocating for change and coordinating action to improve the health of Lake Winnipeg.
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Atlantic Water Network
Atlantic DataStream is coordinated locally by the Atlantic Water Network (formerly the Community Based Environmental Monitoring Network) out of Saint Mary’s University.
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Government of the Northwest Territories
DataStream was first piloted in the Mackenzie Basin through a unique collaboration between The Gordon Foundation and the Government of the Northwest Territories, DataStream’s founding partner.
Supporters
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Environment and Climate Change Canada
Generous support from ECCC has enabled strategic DataStream growth both regionally and nationally. Financial and in-kind investments have made the platform more effective for uploading, visualizing and downloading datasets collected in all three hub regions.
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RBC Foundation
RBC Foundation support has enabled the integration of blockchain technology into DataStream software. With this scalable technology in place, a new level of security and transparency is guaranteed for all regional hubs. RBC Foundation funding will continue to help DataStream develop technology solutions to solve pressing water challenges.
Getting Started
DataStream is open-platform – meaning it’s free for anyone to use. If you are involved in water monitoring in any of our existing basins and are interested in expanding the audience for your data and the impact of your program, we want to work with you.
Please contact us and we can set you up with a data contributor account. You can reach Lindsay Day, DataStream Coordinator at lindsay@gordonfn.org or (416) 601-4776×300
Related Resources
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Elevating Community-Based Water Monitoring in Canada
Author(s): Community-Based Water Monitoring Roundtable Participants
April 3, 2019
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Transcending Boundaries
Author(s): The Forum for Leadership on Water
Publisher(s): The Gordon Foundation
November 16, 2016
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Canada’s Great Basin: Presumed Abundance and Revealed Neglect in the Mackenzie Watershed
Publisher(s): The Gordon Foundation
November 21, 2011