What is the name of your organization?
Wetlands Watch
What is the name of your solution?
Catch the King
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
World Record-holding crowdsourcing event that collects GPS data on king tide flooding, advances research, and guides leaders amid rising seas.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Coastal Virginia
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
USA
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
Coastal Virginia faces the fastest rate of sea level rise on the eastern U.S. coast, compounded by global climate change and land subsidence from groundwater withdrawal. Its low-lying communities, especially those with limited resources, are increasingly vulnerable to frequent tidal flooding. During floods, estuarine waters linger on urban landscapes, absorbing pollutants before flowing back into local creeks, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay, thereby spreading contamination and elevating public health risks.
Socioeconomic disparities worsen these impacts, as lower-income communities often lack both the appropriate infrastructure and the means to recover from repeated events. Compounding the problem, forecasts suggest that 89% of Virginia’s marginal wetlands may be unable to keep pace with rising waters, threatening vital natural flood buffers and water filtration systems, and further endangering ecological biodiversity and human health.
As sea levels rise, policymakers need reliable data to understand evolving flood patterns, identify high-risk areas, and develop effective adaptation strategies. The problem is that limited capacity, inadequate modeling, and outdated information hinder their ability to make informed decisions. In Virginia, FEMA’s Flood Insurance Rate Maps differ significantly in age—some are decades old and rarely updated—making them unreliable for accurately assessing present-day flood risks.
What is your solution?
Our solution employs an innovative crowdsourcing approach to address the critical lack of precise, real-time data on tidal flooding in Virginia’s coastal communities. Through our Guinness World Record-holding program, volunteers record measurements during exceptionally high “king tide” events using Wetlands Watch’s free Sea Level Rise app, developed in partnership with Concursive Corporation. With a few taps, participants drop GPS pins along the inland edge of flooding, upload photos, and document site-specific observations. These crowdsourced data points are then visualized, analyzed, and shared with academic researchers and local governments to enhance flood forecasting models, inform emergency response plans, and support long-term adaptation strategies.
In the Measure the Muck (MtM) component of the program, volunteers collect water samples for laboratory analysis. By assessing bacterial loads and other indicators, researchers develop valuable insights into how floodwaters may carry contaminants that pose public health risks. Integrating spatial flood data with water quality findings offers a holistic perspective on the cascading effects of tidal flooding, from disrupted infrastructure to ecological challenges and potential health hazards.
DEMO #1 (Hampton Roads Cares): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L0KFDyX030&feature=youtu.be
DEMO #2 (WHRO Public Media): https://youtu.be/2Awk3yCgq8U
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Catch the King serves our stakeholders in different ways.
(1) The event serves frontline communities by offering real-time flood data and active engagement in climate adaptation. These communities, which often lack protective infrastructure, gain an increased awareness of their own risks and are thereby able to advocate more strongly for adaptation actions.
(2) It serves researchers, local governments, and policymakers by supplying high-resolution data that refines flood forecasting models and highlights critical risks. Armed with reliable information, officials can prioritize vulnerable areas, allocate resources more effectively, and develop long-range strategies to safeguard residents.
(3) Finally, Catch the King serves our volunteers by providing them with immersive field experiences that deepen their understanding of local flood impacts. We believe that these experiences build climate literacy and foster local environmental stewardship.
