The National Ecological and Observatory Network (NEON) provides free and open ecological data to all and serves as a long-term, continental-scale dataset covering various ecosystems and geographic regions. While NEON collects extensive amounts of environmental data, studying human impacts on aquatic ecosystems and surrounding populations requires additional variables not yet available within the dataset. To address this gap, we propose a framework to incorporate new variables that capture human activity and any associated environmental impacts. Human activity includes upstream or lateral factors that may disturb the sample site such as dams, land use, and other point source or non-point sources. These variables would also expand information on surrounding populations, including human demographics and population size, to see if other human populations are affected. Additionally, we aim to compare these proposed variables with existing water quality measurements like pH, conductivity, total dissolved solids, and temperature, at three different sites to gauge if our framework can be compared with current NEON data. Expanding the range of data collected at each site would enhance NEON’s multidisciplinary applications and provide a more comprehensive understanding of anthropogenic impacts.