The unprecedented availability of user-generated data on the Web is opening new opportunities for enhancing real-time monitoring and modeling of environmental systems based on data that are public, low-cost, and spatiotemporally dense. In this paper, we contribute a novel crowdsourcing procedure for extracting snow-related information from public web images. The value of the obtained virtual snow indexes is assessed for a real-world water management problem.

Games are an optimal way to teach about water resource sharing, as they allow real-world scenarios to be explored. We look at how games can be used to teach about water resource sharing, by both playing and developing water games. An evaluation of the web-based game Irrigania found Irrigania to be an effective and easy tool to incorporate into curriculum, and a course on developing water games encouraged students to think about water resource sharing in a more critical and insightful way.

The paper includes a review of the current state of high-frequency monitoring in groundwater and surface waters as an outcome of a special issue of HESS and four sessions at EGU on this topic. The focus of the paper is to look at how high-frequency monitoring can be used as a valuable support to assess the management efforts under various EU directives. We conclude that we in future will see a transition from research to implementation in operational monitoring use of high-frequency sensors.

Rangelands, from grasslands to woodlands, cover much of the earth. These areas face great pressure to meet growing water needs. Data on large-scale dynamics that drive water planning remain rare. Our watershed-scale results challenge simplistic hydrological assumptions. Streamflow was resilient to dramatic landscape changes. These changes did shape sediment yield, affecting water storage. Understanding these processes is vital to projections of rangeland water resources in a changing world.

Semi-structured interviews provide an effective and efficient way of collecting qualitative and quantitative data on water use practices. Interviews are organised around a topic guide, which helps lead the conversation while allowing sufficient opportunity to identify issues previously unknown to the researcher. The use of semi-structured interviews could significantly and quickly improve insight on water resources, leading to more realistic future management options and increased water security.

Controlled drainage has been recognized as an effective option to optimize soil moisture conditions for agriculture and to reduce unnecessary losses of fresh water and nutrients. For a grassland field in the Netherlands, we measured the changes in the field water and solute balance after introducing controlled drainage. We concluded that controlled drainage reduced the drain discharge and increased the groundwater storage in the field, but did not have clear positive effects for water quality.

Based on low-altitude aerial infrared surveys, around 370 groundwater–surface water interaction sites were located. Longitudinal temperature patterns, stable isotopes and dissolved silica composition of the studied rivers differed. Interaction sites identified in the proximity of 12 municipal water plants during low-flow seasons should be considered as potential risk areas during flood periods and should be taken under consideration in river basin management under changing climatic situations.

We studied long-term daily records of rainfall and streamflow of the Incomati River basin in southern Africa. We used statistical analysis and the Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration tool to describe the spatial and temporal variability flow regime. We found significant declining trends in October flows, and low flow indicators; however, no significant trend was found in rainfall. Land use and flow regulation are larger drivers of temporal changes in streamflow than climatic forces in the basin.

High-resolution phosphorus and flow data were used to gauge the effects of diffuse (soil P) and point source (septic tank system) mitigation measures in two flashy headwater river catchments. Over 4 years the data indicated an overall increase in P concentration in defined high flow ranges and low flow P concentration showed little change. The work indicates fractured responses to catchment management advice and mitigation which were also affected by variations in seasonal hydrometeorology.

The mitigation of excess nitrogen and phosphorus in river waters requires costly measures. Therefore it is essential to use reliable monitoring methods to select adequate mitigation strategies. Here we show that more development is needed before passive samplers can be considered as reliable alternative for sampling nutrients in stream. We also showed that although continuous sampling is expensive, its reliability precludes unnecessarily high implementation costs of mitigation measures.