The Watermark Project
The Watermark Project is a collection of true stories about your connections to the water bodies that are important to you.
By sharing our Watermark stories we can help others and ourselves recognize those connections we have to our shared waters.
Why is this so important? Environmental success stories like the restoration of the Petitcodiac River showed us the power a story can have and the importance of sharing those stories about our connections to water. Lake Ontario Waterkeeper teamed up with Petitcodiac Riverkeeper in the early 2000s to record testimonials of fishermen on the Petitcodiac River. Their oral histories helped prove that the causeway built across the river in the 1960s wiped out migrating fish. Their stories offered invaluable information about the river’s history that helped to re-open the river in 2010.
The significance of those early “Watermark” stories and the impact they had stayed with Waterkeeper Mark Mattson. When government rollbacks to environmental laws gutted the Fisheries Act and Navigable Waters Protection Act years later, Swim Drink Fish created the Watermark Project to help people remember the importance of water in their lives and record their knowledge for posterity.
Everyone has a Watermark
A Watermark is your story about a waterbody that shapes your life. It’s often about a time or moment when you connected to a body of water and why that moment is important to you.
Your Watermark could be a shared moment of peace at a place you love to visit, your first or most important memory of swimming, fishing or being on the water. It could be a time you felt concerned for the environment, or a time when you were concerned for yourself as the water’s strength nearly swept you away.
A Watermark story can be a fond memory, but it doesn’t have to be. For some, it’s a story of pollution or the feeling of being cut off from water and missing its presence in your life.
Sharing a Watermark can help us identify a connection to a particular waterbody and more broadly, water in general. Many times these moments have defined us as well as our connection to water and our Watermarks can help remind us all why we care about a place we love, and remind us to protect it.
At the heart of the Watermark Project is the belief that:
“Somewhere, some waterbody is a part of who you are.”
Photo: Waterkeeper Mark Mattson as a child
What to do
Your story can be spoken, written, filmed, or illustrated and since 2016 people have been sharing their stories with us. Many stories have been preserved in the Watermark Project online public archive. You are welcome to submit your Watermark story or browse the archive for inspiration.
Most importantly of all, we encourage you to think about the influence of water in your own life and share your experience with others.
Looking to contribute to The Watermark Project or browse the archive? Visit the Watermark Project website.