Larissa Holman, Director of Science and Policy

Ottawa Riverkeeper is a charitable organization that works to protect and improve the ecological health of the Ottawa River watershed. Covering an area twice the size of New Brunswick, the watershed encompasses everything from farms, mines, pulp mills and a nuclear facility to bustling cities and the loon-filled lakes of Algonquin Park. As a result, Ottawa Riverkeeper deals with a range of issues such as road salt runoff, radioactive waste, microplastics and more. While Larissa Holman, Director of Science and Policy at Ottawa River Keeper, is comfortable poring over spreadsheets or GIS dots to understand what they mean, DataStream’s mapping and graphing tools bring that information to life for non-specialists. “Having the ability to dig in and look and try to understand water quality can be a very empowering experience,” says Holman. “I think that should never be undervalued, the power of providing people relevant information about their local waterway.”