The Invisible Pollution
You can't manage a river from a satellite map. You have to be in the mud. Pollution sources are often intermittent—a factory releasing effluent at 2 AM, or a broken sewer pipe that only leaks during heavy rain. If you aren't logging the Water Odour and Water Colour regularly, you are missing the smoking gun.
This template is a boots-on-the-ground tool for the ecological monitor. It replaces the soggy paper logbook with a geo-tagged database that links visual evidence to chemical reality.
The Daily Reality: Source Tracking
The distinction between Stream Pollution House (residential) and Bank Pollution Industry is critical. Trash on the bank is an enforcement issue; chemicals in the water are a regulatory crisis. This template forces you to separate them. You walk the Umbilo or the Duzi, you see the problem, and you tag the source immediately.
The Water Flow field (Stagnant, Weak, Strong) provides the hydrological context. A foul smell in stagnant water is anaerobic decay; a foul smell in strong flow is an active discharge upstream. This data point helps you triangulate the origin of the pollution.
The Data Payoff: Evidence Chains
When you are building a case against a polluter, you need a chain of evidence. The Photo 1-4 slots allow you to capture the scene from multiple angles—the pipe, the plume, the bank, and the wider context. Combined with the Location GPS stamp, this creates a falsifiable record. You aren't just saying "the water looked bad"; you are showing a time-stamped visual history of degradation that holds up in a council meeting or a court of law.