JOHNSON CITY (AP) — A Tennessee researcher is hoping visitors to a park will help her gather data for what she calls a "citizen science project."

East Tennessee State University researcher Ingrid Luffman wants people who are walking through Johnson City's Founders Park to stop at the bridge across Brush Creek, read the water level on a staff gauge and text the findings to her. The university said the gauge looks like a giant ruler extending from the water up the side of the bridge abutment.

The water depth data will be downloaded into a database program and converted into a spreadsheet to be analyzed with precipitation and other weather-related data.

Luffman says the purpose is to see how Brush Creek responds to rainfall events and to educate people about the creek's ecology.