Using citizen science to understand river water quality while filling data gaps to meet United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 objectives

Hegarty, Susan; Hayes, A. C.; Regan, Fiona; Bishop, Isabel; Clinton, Ruth

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146953

Cited by 48 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The nitrogen problem is a complex, multi-faceted issue with a multitude of potential impacts on human and ecological health (Galloway et al, 2003). Other citizen science studies that have conducted nitrate monitoring with the help of citizens tend to focus on the scientific data that could be obtained from the project (Bishop et al, 2020;Hegarty et al, 2021;Thornhill et al, 2018). In contrast, educational aspects are less in focus.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizens’ views on home experiments in the context of a chemistry citizen science project

Pietzner

Lüsse²,

Brockhage³

et al. 2022

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed

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Citizen science has gained importance in recent years and revealed great potential, especially regarding science learning and environmental education. However, little is known about ways of supporting individual learning processes within citizen science. With this in mind, a home experiment set, the Nitrogen Box, was developed within a chemistry citizen science project on nitrogen pollution of water bodies. The aim of the box was primarily to deepen the subject matter and to sensitize the citizens to the topic. To gain deeper insights into the usability and added value of home experiments in a citizen science context, semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten citizens. Analysis of these interviews revealed that the nitrogen box contributed to a consolidation and deepening of knowledge of the nitrogen problem in Northwest Germany. Home experiment sets like Nitrogen Box can motivate and enable citizens to engage more deeply with the scientific topic in the future, to reflect on it and discuss it. We discuss how heterogeneity of the target group presents challenges for designing citizen science projects and provide recommendations for the future projects.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizens’ views on home experiments in the context of a chemistry citizen science project

Pietzner

Lüsse²,

Brockhage³

et al. 2022

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed

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“…This enforces groundwater has a principal source of water that plays a significant role in attaining the sustainable development. Though not very dominant, emergence of the keyword "citizen science" (total link strength of 58 with 38 links) denotes a promising field of research where citizen science approaches are widely used for water quality monitoring and contribute to SDG 6.3.2 [69][70][71][72][73]. For instance, Hegarty et al (2021) [69], in a recent study on river water quality in Ireland, reported a successful attempt by citizen scientists in assessing the nitrate and phosphate monitoring in river water and their role filling up the existing data gaps.…”

Section: Keyword Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Where Do We Stand Now? A Bibliometric Analysis of Water Research in Support of the Sustainable Development Goal 6

Basu

Dasgupta

2021

Water

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The connections between the scientific findings and SDG 6 are often not clear, which results in increasing the gap between technical developments and academic discourse, and the policy practitioners and/or implementers. The present paper explores the existing scientific research on water that directly connects to SDG 6 using a bibliometric analysis. The 637 scientific articles published between 2015–2021 (till 13 May 2021) were investigated for temporal development, scientific collaboration, existing research focus and the gaps. Interdisciplinary journals such as Science of the Total Environment and Journal of Environmental Management are found to be dominant sources along with water specific journals such as Water Research and Water (Switzerland). Open access journals make a dominant footprint and majority of author collaborations are found among authors from countries such as USA and UK while the research connections among authors from Global South are observed to be weak. Targets 6.1 (safe and affordable water), 6.3 (treatment and reuse of wastewater) and 6.5 (IWRM including through transboundary cooperation) are identified to be the highest referred to targets in scientific research in support of SDG 6. Though a significant evolution of scientific research is observed in connection to SDG 6 with increasing studies on groundwater, water governance, wastewater treatment, etc., in recent years, scientific studies connecting emerging concepts such as water security, water-energy-food nexus and ecosystem based approaches are still in an infant stage which calls for more research connecting these concepts and approaches to SDG 6 targets to attain a sustainable water environment by 2030 and beyond. This paper significantly contributes to tracking the progress in scientific research in connection to SDG 6 as well as highlights the hotspots where more collaboration between scientific communities and policy makers are required.

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“…Application of citizen science in Drain Detectives also enhanced what could be monitored, with citizen scientists collecting types of data that could not be provided by the sensors. Expansion of the type of data that can be collected as a result of citizen science has been demonstrated in water quality and in hydrological monitoring (Safford and Peters 2017;Starkey et al 2017;Hegarty et al 2021), as well as in monitoring of the Great Barrier Reef (Becken et al 2019), with an emphasis on the value of combining citizen science and professionally collected data to better characterise the environment.…”

Section: Citizen Science Data Enhanced Sensor Monitoring Of Beach Drainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is a range of approaches for using citizen science, smartphones, and data collection platforms for collecting data to complement sensors or existing monitoring. The hands-on approach of training citizen scientists and supporting them to monitor the environment is common (Storey et al 2016;Farnham et al 2017;Church et al 2018;Hegarty et al 2021). Alternatively, crowd sourcing through social media or signage is another approach that is becoming more popular, with potentially greater reach than only using trained citizen scientists (Jones et al 2018;Hartley et al 2019: Lowry et al 2019.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drain Detectives: Lessons Learned from Citizen Science Monitoring of Beach Drains

Cottam¹,

McGuire²,

Mossop

et al. 2021

CSTP

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Stormwater drains are common features at city beaches. Stormwater impact from drains is well understood, but the extent and impact of dry-weather flows on water quality and therefore on swimmers is not. Traditional beach monitoring may not be sensitive or frequent enough to assess this risk from drains, and investigation of dry-weather pollution is limited by relatively slow turnaround times for laboratory analysis. This case study describes lessons learned from a trial of citizen science and water quality sensors to monitor drains for dry-weather flows. This involved the use of smartphones and datacollection platforms for community monitoring at signed drains and by trained citizen scientists. Monitoring consisted of photos, observations, and water sampling. A key lesson from the trial was how citizen science can enhance data collected by sensors or by traditional monitoring. Citizen scientists collected data that sensors could not provide on flows, such as size and colour at outlets, and whether flows reached the bay. When combined with sensor data, drains were risk profiled, with higher-risk drains investigated further. Another lesson learned was to adequately resource in-person engagement and communications to motivate and retain citizen scientists. Underestimating resources for engagement translated into less data collected. Community data from signs was a valuable addition, but could have been maximised by simplifying data collection and ensuring signs were close to where observations or photos needed to be taken. The approaches trialled and lessons learned from this project are informative for the design and delivery of similar projects.

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Using citizen science to understand river water quality while filling data gaps to meet United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 objectives

Cited by 48 publications

References 37 publications

Citizens’ views on home experiments in the context of a chemistry citizen science project

Citizens’ views on home experiments in the context of a chemistry citizen science project

Where Do We Stand Now? A Bibliometric Analysis of Water Research in Support of the Sustainable Development Goal 6

Drain Detectives: Lessons Learned from Citizen Science Monitoring of Beach Drains

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