The Pulse of Water: From the Mountains to the Coast

We will follow the journey of water through Cañón de San Dionisio, from its upper reaches to near the coast, using six permanent monitoring stations distributed along approximately 26 km. Rather than conducting visits on a fixed schedule, monitoring will be triggered by rainfall. When it rains, each station will be observed by a nearby member of the community collective, with everyone recording the same information using a simple field card.

During each observation, participants will record whether water is flowing through the channel, the time it is first observed, the reading on a fixed water-level gauge, and the water temperature. They will also record a short video and take photographs using a mobile phone or a camera mounted on a tripod with a fixed frame. The same framing will be reproduced during subsequent visits, allowing images of the same location to be compared over time.

These observations will allow us to measure three main aspects: how far the water travels through the monitoring network, how long it takes to move from one station to the next, and how long it remains present. The repeated photographs will also help document visible changes at each location.

Each rainfall event will be followed up after 24 hours, 7 days, and 30 days. We plan to document at least four events and complete the baseline through three team surveys covering all six stations. Following a major flood event, we will also measure the high-water mark.