Citizen science pioneers in Kenya – A crowdsourced approach for hydrological monitoring

Weeser, B. and Stenfert Kroese, J. and Jacobs, S. R. and Njue, N. and Kemboi, Z. and Ran, A. and Rufino, M. C. and Breuer, L. (2018) Citizen science pioneers in Kenya – A crowdsourced approach for hydrological monitoring. Science of the Total Environment, 631-63. pp. 1590-1599. ISSN 0048-9697

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Abstract

Although water is involved in many ecosystem services, the absence of monitoring data restricts the development of effective water management strategies especially in remote regions. Traditional monitoring networks can be expensive, with unaffordable costs in many low-income countries. Involving citizens in monitoring through crowdsourcing has the potential to reduce these costs but remains uncommon in hydrology. This study evaluates the quality and quantity of data generated by citizens in a remote Kenyan basin and assesses whether crowdsourcing is a suitable method to overcome data scarcity. We installed thirteen water level gauges equipped with signboards explaining the monitoring process to passers-by. Results were sent via a text-message-based data collection framework that included an immediate feedback to citizens. A public web interface was used to visualize the data. Within the first year, 124 citizens reported 1175 valid measurements. We identified thirteen citizens as active observers providing more than ten measurements, whereas 57% only sent one record. A comparison between the crowdsourced water level data and an automatic gauging station revealed high data quality. The results of this study indicate that citizens can provide water level data of sufficient quality and with high temporal resolution.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Science of the Total Environment
Additional Information:
This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Science of the Total Environment. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Science of the Total Environment, 631-632, 2018 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.130
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2310
Subjects:
?? EAST AFRICAHYDROLOGYKENYASONDU CATCHMENTTEXT MESSAGEWATER LEVELWATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENTENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERINGENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRYWASTE MANAGEMENT AND DISPOSALPOLLUTION ??
ID Code:
124606
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
17 Apr 2018 14:00
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
21 Sep 2023 02:23