BluePrint and WaterWatch
Get involved and tell us what you see at your local river, beach or lake
The Environment Agency have joined forces with Hello Lamp Post, as part of the Supporting Citizen Science project, to pilot this novel approach for collecting and sharing data and information.
Hello Lamp Post invites local residents and visitors across the country to use a chat tool at local beach, river or lake using the Hello Lamp Post artificial intelligence platform. This is more than a one-way conversation, with residents and visitors contributing to citizen science by sharing their own observations and local knowledge from these sites.
The information from these conversations is helping us to understand who visits these sites, why and how this varies over time. It will also provide us with water quality observations and support incidents reports on signs of pollution.
In February 2026 we launched our pilot national conversation, Blueprint, which will run until 31st of March 2027. This enables everyone, anywhere in the country, to get involved and explore their local river, lake or beach.
You can join in real-time, online using the link or scanning the QR code and providing a location via your device or What3Words, or retrospectively from a past visit.
BluePrint will ask for information on number of water users and activity as well as any other visible water quality observations. The tool provides live data from Swimfo on pollution risk and bathing water designation, nearest known river and tidal height, and weather conditions.
Users are encouraged to upload photos to sit alongside their observations, to help moderate water user numbers and to share concerns or positive sightings.
The data collected will improve our understanding of water use during and outside of the bathing season and in non-designated sites. As well as inform bathing water investigations it can help us to identify pollutions.
WaterWatch was launched in October 2024 at five locations across the country, with physical signs in place around rivers, lakes and beaches for members of the public to scan and have a conversation. This pilot tested the Hello Lamp Post platforms AI conversation as a tool for collecting citizen science data in the form of visible water quality observations and number of water users and activity. In the first year (until Oct 2025) a total of 4147 conversations by 2937 unique users were recorded.
Further funding has been secured to continue and expand WaterWatch, with signs in place at 8 sites until 31st of March 2027. 
Windermere, Cumbria- Rayrigg Meadows, Miller Ground and Fell Foot
Ribble River, Lancashire- Edisford Bridge
Nidd River, Yorkshire- Harrogate
River Teme, Hereford
River Dart, Devon
Worthing, West Sussex - Worthing Goring and Beach House
Ravensbourne, London
Mayes Brook, London
Find your nearest sign by viewing our map.
