*** Water Connections ***

Newsletter, July 2008

What's New

July 15, 2008
Water Connections Now Online! Last month's national launch of waterconnect.ca marked a significant milestone in the Water Connections project. With development and testing coming to a close, the portal is now open for public use. All members of the water resource community are encouraged to visit waterconnect.ca, browse its directories and libraries, and register their own organizations so they can become part of a growing national collaborative on water information sharing.
For more information, visit waterconnect.ca today or contact the project team at info@waterconnect.ca.
July 25, 2008
Gearing Up for the Future of Water Connections! With the portal now online, CSW staff and the project team are hard at work with the next phase of Water Connections. Organization's buy-in is critical; the portal needs to be used in order to be useful as a truly national resource. In the coming months, CSW plans to host a robust series of workshops designed to reach out to potential user groups and identify their specific needs, then match those needs to the appropriate Water Connections resource.
If you or your organization would be interested in either participating in one of our workshops, or collaborating with CSW and its partners, contact Water Connections staff at info@waterconnect.ca.

Other News

July 21, 2008
Water Quality Data Exchange Standards Coming Soon! In partnership with GeoConnections, CSW and a team of collaborators have been developing standardized data exchange frameworks for a suite of water quality parameters. This project marks a preliminary step towards the normalization of data exchange practices, and an overall improvement in the availability of water quality data across the country.
With the project coming to a close at the end of the month, CSW will be publishing a Data Exchange Guide that outlines the necessary steps for organizations to engage in online data sharing. This document will be published to waterconnect.ca as well as GeoConnections' Discovery Portal.

About Water Connections

Our Vision...
Water Connections is a project designed to realize the Centre for Sustainable Watersheds vision of a national water information resource that will facilitate cooperation and collaboration among Canada's water community.
Our Mission...
The mission of Water Connections is to develop and implement a web-based water information portal that will facilitate access and sharing of water data, resources and contacts nationwide.

Reminder

Don't forget to check out our newly updated news and events pages on waterconnect.ca! See where we're going and where we've been, and find information about important conferences, tradeshows and workshops that might be useful to you and your organization.
GET YOUR BRAIN WET WITH WATER CONNECTIONS!
Water Connections is a Centre for Sustainable Watersheds Initiative.
For more information on CSW, its staff and its projects, visit:
www.watersheds.ca