World Water Monitoring Challenge (WWMC) is an international education and outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by engaging citizen scientists to conduct basic monitoring of their local water bodies.



The WWMC grew out of the World Water Monitoring Day program in 2012. While an official “day” continues to be observed each year on September 18, the broader “challenge” encourages people everywhere to test the quality of their waterways, share their findings, and protect our most precious resource. The program runs annually from March 22 (the United Nations World Water Day) until December 31.



The primary goal of World Water Monitoring Challenge is to educate and engage citizens in the protection of the world’s water resources, as many people are unaware of the impact their behaviors have on water quality. Conducting simple monitoring tests teaches participants about some of the most common indicators of water health and encourages further participation in more formal citizen monitoring efforts. Results are shared with participating communities around the globe through the WWMC Web site.



Coordinated by the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the International Water Association (IWA), the WWMC sells individual and classroom water-testing kits for sampling local water bodies for basic water quality parameters: temperature, acidity (pH), clarity (turbidity), and dissolved oxygen. Each kit contains an informative instruction book and enough reagents to repeat up to 50 tests.