“Acqua Sorgente” Project – Italian Alpine Club
Country: Italy
Lead organisation: Club Alpino Italiano (CAI)
Short Description:
Water, particularly groundwater, is crucial for community and ecosystem welfare and resilience. Climate change, overexploitation, and pollution may threaten water availability. It is then crucial to monitor, study, and protect our water resources. To achieve these goals the main factors required are data, scientific analysis, and citizen outreach. In mountainous territories, the main manifestations of groundwater resources are natural springs, which provide water to communities and ecosystems. In some territories, the fraction of tap water abducted from natural springs can reach and exceed 75 %. Additionally, natural springs themselves are sites of high biodiversity. Natural springs constitute points to collect data about the feeding groundwater resources.
In recognition of this, in April 2024 the Italian Alpine Club (CAI – Club Alpino Italiano) officially started the “Acqua Sorgente” (Spring Water) Citizen Science project. The main project’s objectives are the following:
- Building a database of water springs monitoring data.
- Analyze the data to contribute to water protection and hydrological research.
- Rise awareness about water as a crucial resource and disseminate the scientific results of the project.
Being a Citizen Science project, all participating volunteers can collect data from water springs in the territories. The project is extended to the whole Italian territory and it is planned to continue in the future years. The CAI has already promoted the project to its members, more than 350’000 in the country, affiliated to more than 800 local Club offices. However, the project is open to all people willing to participate. As collectors of data, all volunteers are also considered authors of the project and are kept informed about all activities and developments. Multiple data can be collected. The minimum set of data to consider valid a spring monitoring are, position, photographs, and presence or absence of water flow. Water flow can also be acquired, by filling a container of known volume and recording the filling time. Finally, also the electrical conductivity and temperature of the spring water can be measured. These last parameters can be measured with portable probes which are distributed by the CAI to those members who requested them and participate in the project. In the year 2024, 205 portable probes have been distributed in the whole country. The monitoring data are uploaded to the database with the dedicated application, already developed and continuously maintained. The data are then validated by the scientific coordinator on the online platform. All validated data are displayed in the interactive map on the application and at the following website https://maps.acquasorgente.cai.it/.
During the year 2024, the “Acqua Sorgente” project already advanced on its objectives. Multiple general-audience dissemination events have been attended, promoting knowledge and awareness of the water resources. Three different high school projects have been started with theoretical and on-the-field practical lessons.
The database, in June 2025, counted more than 1500 validated water spring monitoring, most of which included electrical conductivity and temperature data. The data already provided interesting hydrological information and stimulated further analysis, like interpolation with advanced methods for the whole country. These results were already presented at a national scientific conference, and advancements will be presented at further national and international conferences on water and Citizen Science.
For future developments, multiple activities are already in preparation, both scientific and outreach. For all scientific activities, the project already established collaboration with research institutions. Particularly, with the University of Pisa, Roma 3, and Torino.
Even if the project was planned for the Italian territory, all the instrumentations, informatics, and procedures are ready and applicable wherever in the world. Collaboration with international partners and institutions is actively pursued, as the “Acqua Sorgente” Citizen Science project is based on principles of cooperation, openness, and the sharing of knowledge.
Objectives & Goals:
The main objectives of the project are:
- i) Implement and maintain a national database of spring monitoring data and analyze the data for hydrological research and water protection.
- ii) Raise awareness about water resources and disseminate the scientific results.
