"Tell about your spring" campaign

June 6, 2025

The campaign aims to involve the public in the research, improvement, and protection of water bodies of their small homeland, with the involvement of public associations, children and youth, and local residents.

To achieve this goal, all interested parties are invited to participate in identifying, surveying, and protecting springs.

· As part of the campaign, participants can share information about one of the springs through video and photo reports, mass media (television, radio, newspapers, magazines, online information resources, social networks with the hashtag #springsofbelarus). 

· The results of the information campaign "Tell about your spring" will be summarized in August 2025 within the framework of the International Specialized Environmental Exhibition "ECOLOGY EXPO – 2025" in Minsk.  

Within the framework of the information campaign (action) "Tell about your spring," RUP "CRICWR" is holding a competition for the best works on the inventory of springs of the Small Homeland.

Competition period: June 5, 2025 – August 10, 2025.

All interested parties are invited to participate in the competition (local residents, schoolchildren, teachers, youth and public organizations). The competition is held in an online format (works should be sent to the email address – mail@cricuwr.by). 

Participation in the competition includes:

· Conducting a survey of the spring (independently or jointly with a representative of the district inspection of natural resources and environmental protection); 

· Collecting necessary information about the spring in accordance with the requirements of the competition organizer (see requirements below); 

· Sending the work to the competition organizer via email (mail@cricuwr.by). 

The submitted materials must include: 

· Participant's contact information (Full Name, contact phone number, email address, mailing address);

· Description of the spring's location (region, district, nearest settlement);

· Photographs of the spring (3 photos from different angles in JPG / JPEG format (RAW and TIFF formats are not accepted);

· Geographical coordinates of the location (mobile phone can be used); 

· Spring discharge rate (liters/second, measurement without specialized equipment is allowed); 

· Description of the current state of the spring (natural, equipped, improved, littered). 

The winner of the competition will be determined by the largest number of surveyed springs, with special consideration given to the number of newly discovered springs (information about which is not included in the "Register of Surface Water Bodies of the Republic of Belarus" of the State Water Cadastre, http://195.50.7.216:8081/watres/request/) and surveyed springs.

Among the submitted works, the organizer of the competition will also select the 10 best photographs of springs and include them in the updated illustrated publication "Springs of Belarus" with mandatory indication of the author of the photograph.

The winner and prize-winners of the competition will be awarded valuable and memorable gifts.

Thank-you letters will be provided to the administration of educational institutions and public organizations for educators, schoolchildren, youth, and public organizations that participated in the competition.

To determine and record the geographical coordinates of a spring, you can use the Google Maps application. The Google Maps application is automatically downloaded to mobile devices. If this application is not available on your mobile phone or tablet, you can download and install it for free from the Play Market.

To determine the precise actual geographical coordinates of a spring using Google Maps, you need to:

· open the Google Maps application on your mobile device (phone or tablet).

· enable current location. Your current location is shown on the screen as a moving blue circular icon (See Fig.).

· In the Google Maps application, tap and hold the blue circular cursor (your location) for 2-3 seconds. The geographic coordinates of your location will appear in the search bar at the top of the screen. Record them. 

Spring discharge (l/s) is the amount of water (its volume) freely flowing from a spring per unit of time (in liters per second). To determine the spring discharge in field conditions, you can use a measuring container with a known volume in liters (measuring cup, etc.) and a stopwatch (on your mobile device). This is calculated if there is water flow. 

To do this, you need to record the time in seconds it takes to fill a container of known volume, and then, by dividing the volume in liters by the filling time in seconds, obtain the flow rate in liters per second.

Example of documenting work on a studied spring:

	Okmenitsa spring village Chereshniki, Braslav district; coordinates 55.714165 27.005301; discharge – 0.4 l/sec; developed.
	Sorochinskaya spring village Sorochino, Ushachsky district; coordinates 55.199246 28.772182; discharge – 0.2 l/sec; equipped.
	born. Lazienki settlement. Puzava, Braslav district; coordinates 55.38269 26.56281; flow rate – 0.2 l/sec; natural.

Tell us about your spring!