Smart Water in Defiance brings together city leadership, researchers, watershed partners, and community stakeholders to better understand, monitor, and steward water systems across the Maumee River Basin.

The initiative blends real-time data, collaboration, and adaptive learning to improve water quality, resilience, and shared responsibility across connected systems.

The system in focus

Location: Defiance, Ohio and surrounding watershed
Partners: City of Defiance, regional watershed groups, universities, conservation organizations

This work focuses on water quality monitoring, nutrient reduction, and long-term system resilience—using tools such as smart sensors, shared data platforms, and collaborative planning processes.

The aim is not only to measure conditions, but to support coordinated response across the watershed.

Collaborative research and learning

This effort connects real-world stewardship with ongoing research and adaptive management across the Western Lake Erie Basin.

Key elements include:

• Smart Water sensor pilot program in Defiance
• Western Lake Erie Basin evaluation framework
• Adaptive watershed management partnerships
• Regenerative land-use and runoff reduction initiatives

These efforts are not isolated projects. They form part of a broader system of learning—linking observation, analysis, and response over time.

Stewardship in practice

The City of Defiance has worked with research institutions and watershed partners to develop integrated approaches to monitoring and problem-solving.

Regional partners are aligning:

• data and measurement
• conservation practices
• community engagement

The Smart Water sensor pilot provides real-time insight into changing conditions—supporting faster learning, greater transparency, and more coordinated response across the watershed.

Responsibility becomes real when it is carried through systems.

What is being learned

Patterns are beginning to emerge:

• water systems function as interconnected living networks
• real-time data accelerates learning and accountability
• collaboration improves long-term outcomes
• stewardship is most effective when shared across sectors
• adaptive management strengthens resilience under uncertainty

Through the lens of reEarth

These efforts reflect multiple dimensions of the pathway:

• Wholeness — watersheds link land, infrastructure, communities, and ecosystems
• Survival Justice — clean water protects shared life-support systems across generations
• Evolutionary Orientation — learning systems evolve through participation, feedback, and coordination over time

Participate

Communities, researchers, and practitioners working in water stewardship are invited to share insights, projects, and lessons.

Learning becomes stronger when it is shared—across watersheds, institutions, and communities.

→ Share a Living Example

A question to carry

What becomes possible when water systems are understood—and governed—as shared, living systems over time?