Study: Community Science Can Aid Water Resource Monitoring

by Diane Huskinson, Stroud Water Research Center
December 4, 2024

Community science is on the rise. It’s a potentially fast and affordable way to scale up data collection, but is crowd-sourced data any good? Professional scientists might be skeptical. However, a new study has found that with the use of autonomous sensors, community scientists can collect high-quality data for one of the most difficult things to monitor — water resources.

To understand the value of community science in monitoring the health of streams and rivers, researchers from Stroud Water Research Center have examined the quality and usability of water quality data collected by volunteers using autonomous sensors. Their findings, which were published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, show some of the data is high-quality and fills in gaps that could support the work of professional scientists, agency professionals, and community activists. However, additional infrastructure and support are needed to fully realize the data’s potential.

Keep reading: https://stroudcenter.org/news/study-community-science-can-aid-water-resource-monitoring/

Read the Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment paper: https://stroudcenter.org/news/study-community-science-can-aid-water-resource-monitoring/