Changes coming January 1, 2024 for Monitor My Watershed users

Dear Monitor My Watershed User,

Thank you for using and supporting the Monitor My Watershed Data Sharing Portal! To help cover our costs for offering this service (currently >$50,000 per year) and keeping it free for some users, we are implementing a payment plan for Monitor My Watershed. Subscription plan payments will be accepted starting January 1, 2024 through the Monitor My Watershed Shop. We understand that some users may need additional time to budget for this expense, so users may defer payment up until April 30, 2024.

These changes do not apply to Leaf Pack Network or StreamWatch Schools users and their data.

Please remember:

• Monitor My Watershed Data Sharing Portal is owned by Stroud Water Research Center, a 501c(3) nonprofit organization, and payments will be received by the Stroud Center.
• Payment will only be required for submitting data to Monitor My Watershed; data visualization and data download do not require payment.
• 100% of your subscription goes toward covering our costs for offering this service.
• We believe that the ultimate utility of Monitor My Watershed is the data we are building together for science and stewardship!

Here are some frequently asked questions:

Why are you asking me to pay? Subscriptions will cover Monitor My Watershed operating expenses, allowing us to fundraise for new features and enhanced functionality.

I’m being asked to pay for the number of “active sites” I have. What’s an active site? An active site is a site that has been updated within the past 2 weeks; inactive sites are red on Monitor My Watershed.

Will my data be deleted if I choose not to pay? No. Your historical data will continue to be accessible.

Do I have to pay if I’m collecting data for an organization? Only if you are the organization’s primary contact. We are working with all organizations to establish a primary contact and authorized users list.

How will I pay for my subscription? Subscriptions can be purchased by credit card from the Monitor My Watershed Shop.

What if I need help using Monitor My Watershed? We will continue to provide updates and technical support in the Monitor My Watershed forum on EnviroDIY.

Stroud Water Research Center and the Monitor My Watershed Development Team believe:

• Open access to conscientiously collected environmental data supports scientific breakthroughs that improve environmental stewardship.
• Easily findable and accessible environmental data benefits people seeking information, so we are pursuing integration with Internet of Water services.
• Diversity of data portals serve different needs for accessing environmental data, so we provide interoperable data that can be used across all platforms using programming interfaces.
• Data of known quality and documentation facilitates reuse by others, so we encourage and guide users on best practices for data collection and are pursuing data management features.

The Stroud Center and our technology partner LimnoTech have been providing Monitor My Watershed free of charge while we built a solid foundation for growth and sustainability. We hope you value these features of Monitor My Watershed:

• Easy to get started with simple how-to guides provided.
• Instantly visualize your environmental data and take action.
• Easily create customized graphs to analyze trends and share insights.
• Works with any programmable data logger capable of making HTTP POST requests.
• No need to worry about backing up data: it is permanently stored in an open source database.
• Advertise your monitoring efforts and their legitimacy through customized notes and metadata.
• Broaden the impact of your work by openly sharing your data using international standards.
• Share questions and get help from users and moderators via community forum.

Unlike other commercial IoT data services, Monitor My Watershed is built by scientists for scientists working together to address big environmental challenges and scientific questions. We are continuing to work with you, our stakeholders in Monitor My Watershed, to pursue grants and other support for add the features you’ve told us you want:

• Improved interactive plotting features.
• Manual entry and plotting of quality assurance field measurements.
• Data quality control tools.
• Data conversions.
• Customized alerts and more.

Thank you for your time and continued support of Monitor My Watershed. Please share your questions on this thread!

Sincerely,
the Monitor My Watershed Development Team