Abstract
In the present study, adopting of citizen science approach for monitoring water quality of a lake (Uzungöl, Turkey) was investigated. The study consisted of selection of sampling points and water quality parameters, training of volunteers, sampling and analysis by volunteers, and development of a mobile application for data collection and storage. In the scope of the study, four measurement points around the lake were selected and elementary school students were trained both theoretically and practically to collect water quality data. During the project (June-December, 2018), volunteers collected water samples and measured temperature, pH, nitrate, and phosphate with the given test kits. The mobile application was developed using open source code and used to collect and store the volunteer data. According to the volunteer data, temperature values were between 8.5 and 15.5 °C, pH values were between 2 and 8.5, nitrate values were between 0.5 and 2.5 mg/L, and phosphate values were between 0.5 and 5 mg/L in the lake. Most of the pH and temperature results were compatible with field measurements done by research group during field visits. The motivation of the volunteers and mobile application development were the achievements of the project. Low number of the data and its reliability were the main limitations. Therefore, this study showed that citizen science has both capabilities and constraints for collection of water quality data, however; outstanding potential of citizen science is obvious.
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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).
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URL 1: https://github.com/agtokty/citizen_science_android_apphttps://github.com/agtokty/citizen_science_android_app
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the Uzungöl Elementary School administration and especially the science teacher Cihat Akın for coordinating the data collection activities of the students. We also would like to thank to governmental institutions in Trabzon that provided valuable guidance. We would like to also thank for the development of mobile application by Agit Oktay. We would also like to thank the reviewers, whose comments improved the overall quality of the paper.
Funding
This study was supported by Hacettepe University Scientific Projects Coordination Unit (Project No: FKA-2017–12840).
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Ece Kendir Cakmak: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing—original draft preparation; Berk Anbaroglu: Conceptualization, Software, Writing—review and editing; Aysenur Ugurlu: Conceptualization; Writing—review and editing, Supervision.
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Cakmak, E.K., Ugurlu, A. & Anbaroglu, B. Adopting citizen science approach for water quality monitoring in Uzungöl, Turkey. Environ Monit Assess 193, 604 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09395-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09395-2