The problems at the intersection of cities and watersheds include water pollution and the loss of natural habitat; health problems resulting from environmental degradation; and the risk of fire as cities expand into wilderness areas. To address these complex problems, the City Watershed project will bring together a wide array of city residents, including citizens from low-income communities, who historically have had few relevant opportunities to participate.
The City Watershed project, led by the University of California at Berkeley, will be a partnership of community-based environmental organizations, local government, regional and federal resource agencies, and K-12 school districts. City Watershed will use personal digital assistants with GPS, digital cameras, web content authoring tools, and digital storytelling to create meaningful watershed research, restoration, and interpretation activities that engage a broad array of community members. City Watershed will develop a Watershed Contribution Exchange System, an XML-based web content-sharing environment with a GIS interface, through which users will access information such as maps, insect identification slides, and water quality data. Users also will contribute content such as watershed data, photo collections documenting a neighborhood stream restoration, or policy recommendations developed for public presentations.
Program activities will take place in Richmond, Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco. They will be centered at five "watershed learning laboratories" - field locations along the watershed - and in community centers and school classrooms. Users include citizens, urban youth, K-12 and higher education students, teachers, and community advocates.
City Watershed seeks to realize four outcomes: increase citizen participation and understanding of the urban watershed; enable community members to make significant contributions to improving the natural and social environment; build a sustainable regional partnership of city watershed partners; and develop a Watershed Contribution Exchange system, integrated into the ongoing work of project partners.
