The Sentinel Springs project will monitor and model springs to detect long-term environmental trends, ensure water security, and maintain ecological balance. The project aims to demonstrate the role of springs in ecohydrological sustainability and promote their consideration in assessing groundwater, surface water, and ecosystem status under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). It addresses the absence of a standard classification and monitoring methods for springs by creating an EU-wide online database, establishing a data collection protocol, and using climate modelling to predict future spring behaviour.

The main activities will be:

• Understanding the hydro-ecological functioning of springs through long-term monitoring and climate change impact assessments.
• Developing a cost-effective online platform for spring data to support conservation and governance.
• Fostering community engagement in spring monitoring and conservation.
• Promoting evidence-based policies and governance for spring conservation and water resource management.

• Development of detailed protocols for monitoring springs from hydrological, hydrogeological, and ecological perspectives, integrating physical, chemical, and biological parameters.
• Creation of an online, open-access platform (hosted within the European Geological Data Infrastructure, EGDI) for real-time and long-term spring monitoring data, which will be interoperable with other major European data platforms (e.g., Water4All, Zenodo, EOSC).
• Advanced models for forecasting the impacts of climate change and human activities on spring discharge, water quality, and biodiversity.
• Introduction of standardized, cost-effective monitoring and modelling methods, including the use of near real-time IoT sensors and remote sensing technologies for springs assessment.
• Enhanced understanding of the dynamic interactions between groundwater, springs, and aquatic ecosystems, promoting collaboration among ecologists, hydrogeologists, and socio-economists.