An Integrated Toolbox for the Engagement of Citizens in the Monitoring of Water Ecosystems

Abstract

The monitoring of water ecosystems requires consistent and accurate sensor measurements, usually provided from traditional in-situ environmental monitoring systems. Such infrastructure, however, is expensive, hard to maintain and available only in limited areas that had been affected by extreme phenomena and require continuous monitoring. Due to climate change, the monitoring of larger areas and extended water ecosystems is imperative, raising the question of whether this monitoring can be disengaged from the in-situ monitoring systems. Due to climate change and extreme weather phenomena, more citizens are affected by environmental issues and become aware of the need to contribute to their monitoring. As a result, they are willing to offer their time to support the collection of scientific data. Collecting such data from volunteers, with no technical knowledge and while using low-cost equipment such as smart phones and portable sensors, raises the question of data quality and consistency. We present here a novel integrated toolbox that can support the organization of crowd-sourcing activities, ensure the engagement of the participants, the data collection in a consistent way, enforce extensive data quality controls and provide to local authorities and scientists access to the collected information in a uniform way, through widely accepted standards.