Watertrek

Watertrek’s mission is to raise awareness and alert about the need to protect aquatic ecosystems threatened by plastic pollution, global warming and toxic chemicals. Watertrek organizes expeditions combining sports (stand-up paddling and walking treks), citizen science and collaborative art, a three-prong approach combining motion, education and creation. It also proposes water-themed contents and renditions of these adventures.

THE STAND-UP PADDLE TO START MOVING


The stand-up paddle or SUP is a derivative of the Hawaiian canoe, the ancestor of modern surfing, used by Polynesian kings. It is practiced standing up, with a paddle.

AN INDIVIDUAL VISION, A GLOBAL CHALLENGE

Séverine Vasselin founded the association Watertrek in 2013 after practicing stand-up paddling for the first time on the Côte Bleue near Marseille in the South of France:

“This experience was a true revelation, a change of perspective that was at once physical, sensorial, social and spiritual, a shift in my esthetic viewpoint of the landscape. Standing up on the water, in a physical posture requiring balance, far from the land, it seemed essentiel to me to remind everyone of the beauty of life we are an integral part of, and of the importance of relearning how to see and feel."

OUR SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITIONS TO DOCUMENT POLLUTION

Watertrek organizes long and short distance paddle expeditions. These initiatives - mostly on rivers - have both a scientific and cartographic vocation, allowing us to collect information on the quantity, the source and type of waste and pollution present in water. It also enables us to physically connect to the ecosystem.

The projects led by Watertrek are in line with three of the Sustainable Development Goals as defined by the UN:

Sustainable Development Goals 06Sustainable Development Goals 13Sustainable Development Goals 14


Watertrek feeds citizen science platforms in collaboration with its partners (Surfrider Foundation Europe, Freshwater Watch in Oxford, DryRivers in Lyon). The association is a member of the Steering Committee involved in protecting Transfer Routes launched by the French Ministry for Energy Transition. It participates in the  identification and mapping of waste accumulation zones observed on banks with the CEREMA.

AN ARTISTIC APPROACH TO ENRICH OUR VISION OF THE LANDSCAPE 

Our expeditions integrate both esthetic, artistic, and collaborative dimensions.

“The ecological crisis is above all a crisis of sensitivity.”

Baptiste Morizot

Un œuvre d'art réalisée à partir de déchets ramassés

OUR RENDITIONS AND CREATIVE ECOLOGY PROJECTS

Expedition renditions and conferences, screenings of our documentary and fiction movies, exhibitions and podcasts: Watertrek shares its experiences using various audiovisual and artistic formats, as many supports to alert on water preservation. We welcome everyone wanting to host these creative initiatives.
Couverture podcast Waterchat

OUR PARTNERS

Microsoft
Cifacom
Climate Reality
Break free from plastic
Carbone 4
Plastic Origins
Garn
Plastic Coalition
Redesa
France Nature
UNO Environement
Sup Norway
Le grand huit
Freshwater
Surfrider
Plastic free july
Ministère de la transition écologique
Lush
Ocean Viking
Restube
StarBoard
SupPassion
All our partners

You

  • To SUPPORT US financially:
  • Make a donation
  • To JOIN US as a volunteer or for an intership:
  • talent@watertrek.org
  • To ASK US as part of a scientific initiative:
  • paddleprotect@watertrek.org
  • To WELCOME US for an event or to build a partnership:
  • contact@watertrek.org

    News

    SUP excursion on the Seclin Canal with the EcosupExplorers

    Around fifty plastic bottles, imposing pieces of polystyrene, a car bumper... 3 bags filled with around 130 liters of waste were collected in 3 hours on the - despite everything - very beautiful Seclin canal around Lille. Our co-founder Séverine was welcomed by the local EcosupExplorers crew. Covered with 80% of duckweed, plastic bottles are […]

    Meeting with students from Meaux Highschool

    An actress, a sports teacher: Séverine and Stéphane had the opportunity to share their eco-adventures on their paddleboards along the nearby Marne with students from Sainte-Marie middle school-high school in Meaux on December 8th, 2023, and to discuss the importance of protecting water. Several classes of 8th grade, and just over a hundred teenagers, were […]

    Watertrek celebrates its 10th anniversary

    10 years of actions, excursions, awareness-raising and mobilization around water protection, Watertrek was delighted to celebrate its 10 years of existence in the company of many of its Parisian supporters, partners and volunteers on December 8th.   Born at the counter of the Paris boat show bar in 2013 following a conversation with Yann N'Guyen, […]

    Watertrek has decided to join forces with its new partner DryRivERS

    Watertrek has decided to join forces with its new partner DryRivERS to contribute to the observation of water stress and the drying out of rivers. Piloted by INRAE (France's National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment) in Villeurbanne, DryRivERS’s application can be used to identify and photograph particularly dry areas, enabling researchers to make […]
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