The Challenge Of Assisting Stakeholders In Data-Scarce Settings: Characterising Intermittent Water Systems Using A Citizen Science Approach

Abstract

The lack of relevant data on the failures of water infrastructure impedes efforts to remediate Intermittent Water Systems, and, by association, improve public health. This paper discusses implementing a citizen science approach that leverages the personal concern of citizens to gain information on the quantity and quality of services provided by IWS - data which would otherwise be intractable, laborious or costly, for developing countries to gather. In the first instance, this paper discusses the development of the citizen science approach and the supporting data-collection tool – a smartphone application. It then ascertains: (i) the feasibility and reproducibility of the method, and (ii) the reliability of the collected data by auto-validating the results using internal consistency tests. Finally, the paper reported on the acceptance of the method as a decision-support tool to develop evidence-based solutions to IWS. This paper demonstrates the first proof of concept that citizen science can be used in conjunction with personal communication technology to bridge the information gaps on the supply of municipal water in data-scarce and resource-constrained settings. It is a feasible and validated data collection method which requires a minimal time and resource investment.