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NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR RAPID WATER QUALITY AND BIOASSESSMENT OF AGRICULTURAL STREAMS BY CITIZEN SCIENTISTS
Impact/Purpose:
The goals of this P3 grant are to create mobile technologies and training for 4-12 students, STEM undergraduates, and citizen scientists in the collection of credible data that can be databased for public purpose use by citizens, educators, and scientists alike in the bioassessment of headwater and wadeable streams. The abundance of watershed streams potentially impacted by agricultural runoff, the inability of agency personnel to bioassess the quality of all streams, and the educational opportunities for students and the willingness of citizen science organizations to assist in this process provides for a productive collaboration. The current concern is to increase the credibility of the data collected by citizen science or educational groups, and for the storage of such data for use by the public.
Description:
Use of this mobile app with it’s “smart” filter and website to rapidly bioassess the water quality from streams and produce credible data by citizen scientists can be an asset to public awareness of alteration of the water and these aquatic systems, facilitate pollution prevention and control when used by the public. This technology can expand the coverage of area, and the voluntary workforce available to monitor impacts of agricultural pollutants and stream alteration while improving the scientific literacy of the public involved. Furthermore, education of the public is the ideal long-term solution to pollution prevention and control at a local level expanded to a global scale