With near-real-time data on the water quality of the East River, our new pioneering dashboard demystifies what it means to interact with water in a major global city.

What’s turbidity? What’s pH? How does sewage affect our ability to swim? Water quality data is complex but doesn’t have to be hard to understand. The nonprofit organization + POOL wanted to change New Yorkers’ dated perceptions on the city’s water quality (it’s much better than we think!) and came to Reaktor for a product that could visualize complicated live water quality research in an engaging, fun, and approachable manner.

Our challenge was to combine multiple real-time data sources into one dynamic dashboard; to electrify the water quality information and help it reach the masses. The new, breakthrough water quality dashboard designed and developed by Reaktor for + POOL, in collaboration with the scientists at Columbia University’s Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, is a state-of-the-art data visualization tool. Our website informs the public on when the water in the East River is good, bad, or something in between, and represents a pioneering effort in bridging the needlessly-large gap between wild nature and urban habitat. The technology built by us also fuels a floating light installation in the East River that changes color based on real-time water quality.