Hegarty, Susan ORCID: 0000-0003-0214-9610, Hayes, Anna, Regan, Fiona ORCID: 0000-0002-8273-9970, Bishop, Isabel and Clinton, Ruth (2021) Using citizen science to understand river water quality while filling data gaps to meet United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 objectives. Science of the Total Environment, 783 . ISSN 0048-9697
Abstract
This study investigates water quality along the river Liffey in Dublin city with the help of citizen scientists, including the community of river users such as paddle boarders and those accessing the river from the bank. The primary objective was to evaluate water quality near sources of pollution observed by citizens, while filling data gaps for the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, Indicator 6.3.2. The participants used field chemistry kits to measure nitrate (NO₃-N) and phosphate (PO₄-P) at 19 locations on a monthly basis over the course of nine months, recording the results on a smartphone app. 10% of nitrate samples were indicative of low quality water values while 35.6% of phosphate samples were indicative of low quality water. Rainfall over the study period was analysed to investigate the impact of run-off from rainwater on the river. Results indicated that excessive rainfall was not a factor in lower water quality in this area. Citizen scientists' observational notes and photographs entered onto the database, with accompanying test results were key to highlighting pollution sources at specific locations which correlated with high levels of nitrate and phosphate resulting in low quality water. Land use was a factor in these areas of recent housing development indicating possible domestic misconnections. Citizen scientist data has the potential to fulfil UN SDG 6, in contributing to Indicator 6.3.2 while detecting contamination.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article (Published) |
---|---|
Refereed: | Yes |
Additional Information: | Article number: 146953 |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | SDG Indicator 6.3.2; River-user volunteers; Nutrient pollution; Land use; River inputs; Qualitative data |
Subjects: | UNSPECIFIED |
DCU Faculties and Centres: | DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science and Health > School of Chemical Sciences DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Science > School of History and Geography Research Institutes and Centres > Water Institute |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Official URL: | https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146953 |
Copyright Information: | © 2021 The Authors. |
Funders: | Royal Bank of Canada, Earthwatch's Freshwater Watch, Dublin City University, Water Institute |
ID Code: | 27494 |
Deposited On: | 05 Aug 2022 14:29 by Thomas Murtagh . Last Modified 03 May 2023 14:25 |
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