Celebrating 9 Years of Water Rangers!

Posted on by Praise Osifo

It’s our birthday! Nine years ago, co-founders Kat, Ollie and Mark registered Water Rangers as a non-profit after winning the inaugural Aquahacking competition!

The organization was born with a mission to help communities protect our precious waterways. We’re so grateful for all we’ve achieved on our journey and it’s great to look back at how much impact we’ve made.

From our humble beginnings, ignited by the very first AquaHacking Competition, we’ve grown into a thriving non-profit, building tools for communities around the world (but mainly in Canada and the UK)! A special thanks to our team, board of directors, and wonderful partners for their hard work and enthusiasm all these years.

In case you didn’t know:

  • We love training and education: We’ve provided tools and resources for educators and communities, fostering a deeper understanding of water quality and conservation. We’ve trained over 25,000 people on water quality testing and distributed over 3,500 testkits to communities, schools, and conservation authorities. Learn more about our educational resources.
  • We’re obsessed with water data: Our open-source data platform lets groups collect and share freshwater and marine water quality data. It’ll always be free and open. We’ve recorded over 55,000 observations and monitored over 7,000 water bodies. Take a tour of our platform.
  • Collaboration is our superpower: We’ve partnered with academic institutions, municipalities, and NGOs to build community capacity in watershed stewardship, providing tools, resources, research, and community engagement. Learn more about our projects.

We’re also excited about the future. We’re always trying to grow a sustainable and inclusive water testing movement. In 2025, we’ll be publishing the next Watershed Reports, set to be published in the spring of 2025. We’re also developing a guidebook on a Case for Investment to help CBWM groups understand and communicate their value for sustainable funding.

It’s been a 9 year journey so far. And what a journey it has been!

We hope you’ll join us in our mission: here’s to many more years of water stewardship and community action!