EAGER: PPER: Collaborative: Cellphone-Enabled Water Citizen Science for Data and Knowledge Generation, and Sharing: WatCitSci

Missouri University Of Science And Technology, Rolla MO

Investigators

Abstract

This Water Citizen Science, "WatCitSci," project seeks to expand the capacity for water resource data collection by leveraging public participation in the efforts. Novel, cell phone-based water quality sensors for cloudiness, acidity levels, dissolved oxygen concentration and surface water flow are being developed and deployed to citizen scientists. These participants are then being deployed to gather data for making informed water management decisions in municipalities, agricultural areas, and other water-intensive sectors. This project offers a platform and knowledge source for many future research, education and policy making efforts. Sharing new knowledge may also fuel novel approaches in assessing and projecting impacts of water use and allocation that affect all sections of society. The development of citizen science tools will enhance community engagement on water quality engineering and research, specifically addressing challenges to our drinking-water systems and the safety of our water supplies. The tools developed for WatCitSci include cellphone-based water quality sensors for turbidity, pH, and dissolved oxygen concentration and a particle tracking velocimetry tool for surface water flow quantification. These efforts, initiated at Missouri University of Science and Technology, make water quality assessment assessable to the citizenry, both economically and technologically. The project researchers use the approaches of the scientific method with hands-on, engaging activities to guide others in formulating research questions, conducting scientific experiments, collecting and analyzing water data, interpreting results and investigating community impacts. The resultant WatCitSci citizen scientists provide deployable data collection to "critical control points" when and where water supply or water quality becomes an issue. The data collection, computation and integration platforms can then be used in developing forecasting models to create a wide array of research opportunities. Future researchers will have increased ability to gather data on critical water issues at greater spatial and temporal resolution, particularly in urban communities. The objectives of the project are: 1) Humans in Advanced Networks - Developing advanced data collection and computation in cell phone-based platforms for rapid deployable citizen scientists; 2) Public awareness through integrated student/citizen science programs, bi-directional knowledge transfers and educational tools for classrooms and field education; 3) Integrated real-time data analysis information projection to stakeholders and decision-makers; and, 4) Assessing water attitudes, beliefs and quantifying public understanding of citizen science knowledge and beliefs via social media.