WeSenseIt has developed a citizen-based observatory of water, which allowed citizens and communities to become active stakeholders in information capturing, evaluation and communication.

The following was proposed:

(i) Data collection: (a) a first “hard” layer consisting of low-cost, static and portable devices that sense and transfer water information when automatically monitored or when initiated by citizens from their mobile devices; (b) a second “soft” layer consisting of techniques designed to harness citizens’ Collective Intelligence, i.e. the information, experience and knowledge embodied within individuals and communities, which enabled both direct messages to the authorities (with mobile-phone pictures, messages, etc.) as well as crowd-sourcing (e.g. by mining social networks like Twitter and Facebook, as well as bulletin boards, RSS feeds, etc.).

(ii) The development of descriptive and predictive models and decision-making tools which integrated sensor and citizen-based data; the data suppliers (physical sensors or people) were seen as nodes of an integrated heterogeneous data collection network which had undergone progressive multi-objective optimisation and tuning.
(iii) Two-way feedback and exchange of environmental knowledge/experience between citizens and authorities for decision-making and governance within an e-collaboration framework, has improved transparency, knowledge management, accountability and responsiveness and facilitated participation in water management.
The citizen observatory of water was tested and demonstrated in three different case studies in water management with civil protection agencies in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Italy. The topic was the entire hydrologic cycle, with a major focus on variables responsible for floods and drought occurrences.
 

The project results had the potential to fundamentally change the traditional concept of environmental monitoring and forecasting, as well as models of governance.