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The Andean mountains are an important water source for the communities living in and downstream of the mountains. The Cajas National Park comprises nearly 280 lakes that form the largest water reservoir for the city of Cuenca. It was declared a Ramsar site in 2002.

Water monitoring is undoubtedly of enormous importance for the characterization of water dynamics. The Universidad de Cuenca, together with the Cuenca Telecommunications, Water, Sewage and Sanitation Company (ETAPA in Spanish) has established field hydro-meteorological monitoring stations in small headwater catchments; however, more are needed for a large-scale and long-term protection of water sources.

There are no people living inside Cajas National Park, that can be involved in hydro-climatic monitoring. However, the park is frequently visited by tourists led by guides. Through sensitization and training of the guides, both guides and tourists alike can be engaged in collecting relevant hydro-climatic data at locations along hiking trails which would otherwise be hard to monitor.

HydroCrowd will join forces with the University of Cuenca and ETAPA to collect data within the park and create an open database of hydro-meteorological data contributing to ecosystem services monitoring and climate change adaptation.

With the local support of Universdad de Cuenca and ETAPA: