first order
Headwater
A spring seeps out of a hillside and the basin is born.
0.4 cfs
Open watershed telemetry
every dropdrains.
Basin is the open watershed platform — every stream gauge, snow sensor, and groundwater well mapped into one living model of where your water comes from, and where it goes.
photo · K
live · streamflow 1,240 cfs
01
How it works
Three steps. No hydrology degree required.
/ 01
Map the basin
Basin fuses lidar, gauge networks, and satellite imagery into one living map of a watershed — from headwaters to estuary.
/ 02
Measure the flow
Every station reports stage, streamflow, snowpack, and quality in real time, into one open dataset.
/ 03
Follow the drop
Trace any drop from snowmelt to sea, see what's upstream of you, and watch the river answer the weather.
02
The whole basin, one map
Surface and subsurface, snow to sea.
Live gauge network
Thousands of stations reporting stage and flow every fifteen minutes.
Snowpack, weighed
Snow water equivalent from satellites and snow courses, all winter.
Groundwater
Wells and aquifers, modeled alongside the surface water they feed.
Water quality
Turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and temperature from in-river sensors.
Open API
Every reading, one JSON endpoint. The data moves as fast as the water.
Community sensors
Anyone can deploy a station. The gaps in the map close fastest from the ground.
03
The watershed, up close
Shot where the water actually runs.
04
The basin, in lines
Contours and flowlines — one watershed, drawn live.
watershed divideflow directiongauge station
05
The slow reach
One river, one frame at a time.
flow · K
06
Four waters
Every basin is four rivers at once.
the join
Tributary
A creek gives itself to a river at the confluence.
180 cfs
tidal
Delta
Fresh water rides over salt at the estuary.
mix zone
recharge
Spring
The aquifer returns to the light, cold and slow.
baseflow
From the desk of Elena Marsh
Most water platforms show you a map. Basin shows you a memory.
I learned to read a river the summer I was sixteen, standing in a stilling well my grandfather built. He kept a notebook — daily stage, in pencil, for forty-one years. He never missed a day. When he died, the notebook went to the county, and I never saw it again.
That's why basin exists. A gauge is a promise to keep reading, and a record is a promise to keep remembering. We digitize the notebooks, wire the gauges, and publish it all open — so no one's river quietly disappears into a county filing cabinet.
Every drop drains. But first it's measured, and then it's remembered. That's the whole product.
Elena MarshFounder, BASIN Watershed Co.
07
By the numbers
Live, from our backend.
12,482
monitoring stations
4.1M km²
watershed mapped
2.6B
readings last year
1,204
basins modeled
08
Loved by people who read rivers
Gauge keepers, hydrologists, and water districts.
★★★★★
"I've watched this gauge for thirty seasons. Basin is the first tool that reads the river the way I do — in the morning, before the trucks."
Tomás R.Gauge keeper, Willamette
★★★★★
"The watershed map is absurdly good. I can trace a drop from snowpack to sea and see every station it passes on the way."
June A.Hydrologist
★★★★★
"We replaced six spreadsheets with one API call. The river didn't notice, but my team did."
Priya N.Water district director
09
The roadmap
Where the water goes next.
Q3 2026
Watershed map + live gauge network, in public beta.
Q4 2026
Community sensor program opens — deploy a station, fill a gap.
Q1 2027
Groundwater modeling, joined to the surface network.
Q2 2027
Flood forecasting, basin-wide, from the same open data.
10
Questions, answered.
Where does the data come from?+
Federal and state gauge networks, our own community stations, satellites, and digitized historical records — merged into one open dataset.
Is the data really open?+
Yes. Streamflow, snowpack, quality, and the API are published under an open license. The data is the product.
Can I deploy my own sensor?+
Yes — the community sensor program opens Q4 2026. We ship rugged stations and ingest their readings into the live map.
Does it cover groundwater?+
Surface water first, full. Aquifer modeling lands in Q1 2027, joined to the same map.
What does it cost?+
The platform and API are free. Restoration and research projects are grant-funded.
How do I read a rating curve?+
A rating curve turns stage (water height) into flow. The API returns both, so you never have to trust a single number.
The river is already reporting.
every drop drains.
photo · Tom Fisk