From May to the end of September 2024, we are running the nationwide action campaign #unsereFlüsse (#our rivers) as a team from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ Leipzig and media professional from the German public television (ARD).
The aim of the campaign is to motivate as many people as possible to observe and report the habitat quality of their streams with a low-threshold participatory offer. We have developed a short online questionnaire for this purpose. This is a greatly simplified version of the FLOW protocol for water structure assessment.
Various environmental associations, the Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt), the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt für Naturschutz), the German Angling Association (DAFV), the Scouts, Omas for Future and many other organisations are supporting our call for participation. Currently (mid-August 2024), we have already received over 2,300 stream records from all over Germany.
Link of FLOW project and action campaign
This year's action campaign is an introductory programme for environmental education in the field of freshwater ecology for anyone who wants to take part spontaneously. The aim of the campaign is to increase public awareness of our streams and hopefully gain political support for further funding of the FLOW project. In this way, we can draw attention to the FLOW project, with which we collect scientifically standardised data. We also hope to attract more volunteers who may wish to take part in the FLOW project next year.
The FLOW project is our long-term citizen science project, which analyses the ecological status of streams in a comprehensive and standardised way. The results of your FLOW monitoring events will be incorporated into scientific studies. We are currently actively seeking to promote and consolidate the FLOW network in the long term, including through the action campaign, to create new knowledge on freshwater health together!
The results of the action campaign will be presented in various press reports in autumn 2024 and in an ARD documentary in October 2024.
From April to the beginning of July 2024, a total of 60 FLOW groups were active at over 70 stream sites across Germany. They took part in our training courses, motivated and prepared volunteers, contacted environmental authorities, organised monitoring events and finally sent us their stream monitoring data.
Many thanks to everyone involved for their continued commitment to the FLOW project!
We will analyse the data in the coming months and present the results at this year's project conference in Leipzig. We look forward to discussing our future activities in stream monitoring and protection with you in various formats. We therefore cordially invite you all to the
FLOW Project Conference 2024 on Saturday, 23 November 2024, from 10:30am - 16:30pm at the UFZ-Kubus, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig
Preliminary programme
More detailed information and a registration link for the project conference will follow in September. You are cordially invited to present your project or your monitoring event at the conference with a poster, a photo collage, a short presentation or an information stand.
Please contact us by email (
We are very much looking forward to exchanging ideas with you!
From 2021 to 2023, 96 trained FLOW groups with over 900 participants analysed a total of 137 streams across Germany. Together, we were able to show that in 60 percent of the agricultural streams studied (n=101), the invertebrate fauna is negatively affected by pesticide inputs. In terms of hydromorphology, 65 percent of the agricultural sample sites fail to achieve good status according to the Water Framework Directive.
We have now published our results here in the journal "Science of the Total Environment". Here you can find a detailed summary of the results in German. A summary of the study with recommendations for political decision-makers can be found here.
The press releases on the FLOW study can be found here: UFZ and BUND. You can read an interview on the results on the RiffReporter website.
Many thanks to all contributors, group leaders and supporters for their great commitment in the FLOW project!
Our results show that there is an urgent need for action in freshwater monitoring and protection. We are therefore continuing the FLOW monitoring in 2024 with around 60 volunteer groups nationwide. In the future, we would like to work with you to develop and implement stream protection measures that are supported by all relevant interest groups. An application for funding is currently being processed. We will keep you up to date and look forward to working with you in the future!
Photo: Jörg Farys, FLOW-Project conference September 2023 in Leizpig.
The FLOW project was selected as one of the TOP 10 projects in the UN Decade competition for ecosystem restoration in the area of "Water bodies and floodplains"!
We are very happy about this award and would like to thank all participants and supporters for the great cooperation! The award shows that together, we are making an important contribution to freshwater protection through stream monitoring and educational work. At the same time, with the FLOW project we have great potential to become active together in the field of stream restoration and to achieve a great deal in the coming years.
The competition was organised by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUV). More detailed information on the project and the award can be found here on the project competition pages. You can find the certificate here.
We are already looking forward to the 4th FLOW measurement campaign with you in the New Year 2024!
Register on this website > Home for the new FLOW newsletter to sign up for this year's training courses and to participate in the FLOW project in 2024.
You can also find the latest information on this year's measurement campaign under 
"Get active".
