Definitions
Citizen science is the engagement of citizens in the collection of scientific data, either online or in the field. The projects in which the citizen scientists take part can be either locally designed or can form part of a research project by either academic or statutory or voluntary monitoring bodies. The data is often collated and analyzed by researchers to answer research questions. Citizen science harnesses the knowledge and enthusiasm of local communities and enables them to collect data and collaborate in the monitoring and analysis of local environmental features and can help shape solutions to environmental problems at both local and regional levels.
Community-based monitoring is where communities self-organize to monitor local environments in an effort to increase or safeguard environmental quality or to encourage accountability of monitoring by official agencies. It involves citizen scientists, who work on a bottom-up basis to inform decisions and policy, from an...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alessi J, Bruccoleri F, Cafaro V (2019) How citizens can encourage scientific research: The case study of bottlenose dolphins monitoring. Ocean & Coastal Management 167:9–19
Bonney R, Phillips TB, Ballard HL, Enck JW (2016) Can citizen science enhance public understanding of science? Public Underst Sci 25:2–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662515607406
Burgess HK, DeBey L, Froehlich H, Schmidt N, Theobald EJ, Ettinger AK, HilleRisLambers J, Tewksbury J, Parrish JK (2017) The science of citizen science: exploring barriers to use as a primary research tool. Biol Conserv 208:113–120
Buytaert W, Zulkafli Z, Grainger S, Acosta L, Alemie TC, Bastiaensen J, De Bièvre B, Bhusal J, Clark J, Dewulf A (2014) Citizen Science in hydrology and water resources: opportunities for knowledge generation, ecosystem service management, and sustainable development. Front Earth Sci 2:26
Buytaert W, Dewulf A, De Bièvre B, Clark J, Hannah DM (2016) Citizen Science for water resources management: toward polycentric monitoring and governance? J Water Resour Plan Manag 142(4):01816002
Carlson T, Cohen A (2018) Linking community-based monitoring to water policy: Perceptions of citizen scientists. J Environ Manage 219:168–177
Carton L, Ache P (2017) Citizen-sensor-networks to confront government decision-makers: Two lessons from the Netherlands. J Environ Manage 196:234–251
Castilla EP, Cunha DGF, Lee FWF, Loiselle S, Ho KC, Hall C (2015) Quantification of phytoplankton bloom dynamics by citizen scientists in urban and peri-urban environments. Environmental monitoring and assessment 187(11):690
Cohn JP (2008) Citizen Science: can volunteers do real research? Bioscience 58:192–197. https://doi.org/10.1641/B580303
Crall AW, Newman GJ, Stohlgren TJ, Holfelder KA, Graham J, Waller DM (2011) Assessing Citizen Science data quality: an invasive species case study. Conserv Lett 4:433–442
Cunha DGF, Casali SP, De Falco PB, Thornhill I, Loiselle SA (2017) The contribution of volunteer-based monitoring data to the assessment of harmful phytoplankton blooms in Brazilian urban streams. Science of The Total Environment, 584:586–594
Dahl AL (2019) The UN 2030 agenda to transform the world: where are we now? 15th ECPD International Conference, paper available at https://iefworld.org/ddahl19e
Dean AJ, Church EK, Loder J, Fielding KS, Wilson KA (2018) How do marine and coastal citizen science experiences foster environmental engagement?. J Environ Manage 213:409–416
DCU Water Institute (2019) WaterBlitz Summary Report September 2019. https://dcuwater.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Summary-Report-WaterBlitz-DCUWater-Institute.pdf
Droege S (2007) Just because you paid them doesn’t mean their data are better. Presented at the citizen science Toolkit Conference. Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, pp 13–26
Fehri R, Khlifi S, Vanclooster M (2020) Testing a citizen science water monitoring approach in Tunisia. Environ Sci Pol 104:67–72
Foster-Smith J, Evans SM (2003) The value of marine ecological data collected by volunteers. Biol Conserv 113:199–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(02)00373-7
Fritz S, See L, Carlson T, Haklay MM, Oliver JL, Fraisl D, Mondardini R, Brocklehurst M, Shanley LA, Schade S (2019) Citizen science and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Nat Sustain 2:922–930
Hadj-Hammou J, Loiselle S, Ophof D, Thornhill I (2017) Getting the full picture: Assessing the complementarity of citizen science and agency monitoring data. PLoS One, 12(12), p.e0188507
Hegarty S, Regan F, O’Dowd P, Brogan A, Clinton R (2019) Citizen scientist involvement in water quality monitoring in agricultural catchments: a case study. http://doras.dcu.ie/23939/1/Catchmentsconference_Hegartyposterupdated.pdf. Accessed 29 Feb 2020
HLPF, Volunteer Groups Thematic Paper (2018). https://forum-ids.org/2018/05/volunteer-groups-thematic-paper-to-the-hlpf-2018/. Accessed 29 Feb 2020
Irwin A (2002) Citizen Science: A Study of People, Expertise, and Sustainable Development, Routledge, UK.
Jollymore A, Haines MJ, Satterfield T, Johnson MS (2017) Citizen science for water quality monitoring: Data implications of citizen perspectives. J Environ Manage 200:456–467
Kim J, Kirschke S, Avellán T (2018) Well-designed citizen science projects can help monitor SDG 6. http://sdg.iisd.org/commentary/guest-articles/well-designed-citizen-science-projects-can-help-monitor-sdg-6/
Kosmala M, Wiggins A, Swanson A, Simmons B (2016) Assessing data quality in citizen science. Front Ecol Environ 14:551–560
Loiselle SA, Frost PC, Turak E, Thornhill I (2017) Citizen scientists supporting environmental research priorities. Sci Total Environ 598:937
McKinley DC, Miller-Rushing AJ, Ballard HL, Bonney R, Brown H, Cook-Patton SC, Evans DM, French RA, Parrish JK, Phillips TB, Ryan SF, Shanley LA, Shirk JL, Stepenuck KF, Weltzin JF, Wiggins A, Boyle OD, Briggs RD, Chapin SF, Hewitt DA, Preuss PW, Soukup MA (2017) Citizen science can improve conservation science, natural resource management, and environmental protection. Biol Conserv 208:15–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.05.015
Quinlivan L, Chapman DV, Sullivan T (2020) Validating citizen science monitoring of ambient water quality for the United Nations sustainable development goals. Sci Total Environ699:134255
Scott AB, Frost PC (2017) Monitoring water quality in Toronto’s urban stormwater ponds: assessing participation rates and data quality of water sampling by citizen scientists in the FreshWater Watch. Sci Total Environ 592:738–744
Thornhill I, Loiselle S, Lind K, Ophof D (2016) The citizen science opportunity for researchers and agencies. Bioscience 66:720–721
Thornhill I, Ho JG, Zhang Y, Li H, Ho KC, Miguel-Chinchilla L, Loiselle SA (2017) Prioritising local action for water quality improvement using citizen science; a study across three major metropolitan areas of China. Sci Total Environ 584:1268–1281
Thornhill I, Chautard A, Loiselle S (2018) Monitoring biological and chemical trends in temperate still waters using citizen science. Water 10(7):839
UN (2016) Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Division for Sustainable Development Goals: New York, NY, USA
United Nations (2018) Progress on ambient water quality: piloting the monitoring methodology and initial findings for SDG Indicator 6.3.2 ISBN No: 978-92-807-3711-0
UN Water (2018) Sustainable Development Goal 6 synthesis report on water and sanitation. Published by the United Nations New York, New York, 10017
van Strien AJ, van Swaay CA, Termaat T (2013) Opportunistic citizen science data of animal species produce reliable estimates of distribution trends if analysed with occupancy models. J Appl Ecol 50:1450–1458
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Hegarty, S., Slaimi, A., O’Connor, N., Regan, F. (2022). Citizen Science and Water Quality Monitoring: Evidence from Dublin and Beyond. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A.M., Brandli, L., Lange Salvia, A., Wall, T. (eds) Clean Water and Sanitation. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95846-0_131
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95846-0_131
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-95845-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-95846-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences