Creek Watch is a brand new (free) App for the iPhone, developed by IBM, which allows users to collect and submit data on the state of health of waterways in their area.

The Creek Watch App collects four pieces of data:

1. The amount of water in the river or stream: empty, some, or full.
2. The rate of flow: still, moving slowly, or moving fast.
3. The amount of rubbish: none, some (a few pieces), or a lot (10 or more pieces).
4. A photo of the waterway.

Once submitted, the information is automatically displayed on a Google map on the Creek Watch web site at http://creekwatch.researchlabs.ibm.com/

This looks like a really useful tool for getting lots of people to continually monitor the Welland along its entire length. All it needs is a spot of viral marketing to promote the idea. So if you are an iPhone user, download the App today and start sending reports. Also make sure to spread the word to any other iPhone users you know. That way, we could soon have a very comprehensive and on-going survey of the river.

Some data on the Welland has already been logged. You can see this by going to the Creek Watch site and typing in the postcode PE9 2NJ.

Sample images of the iPhone App and the Google map output are shown below. You can download the App from here.