Clarity tubes as effective citizen science tools for monitoring wastewater treatment works and rivers

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cg.contributor.affiliationGroundTruthen
cg.contributor.affiliationUniversity of KwaZulu‐Natalen
cg.contributor.donorGroundTruthen
cg.contributor.donorCGIAR Trust Funden
cg.contributor.initiativeDigital Innovation
cg.coverage.countrySouth Africa
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2ZA
cg.coverage.regionSouthern Africa
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.4937en
cg.identifier.iwmilibraryH053559en
cg.identifier.projectIWMI - C-0016en
cg.isijournalISI Journalen
cg.issn1551-3793en
cg.issue5en
cg.journalIntegrated Environmental Assessment and Managementen
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen
cg.volume20en
dc.contributor.authorGraham, P. M.en
dc.contributor.authorPattinson, N. B.en
dc.contributor.authorLepheana, A. T.en
dc.contributor.authorTaylor, R. J.en
dc.date.accessioned2025-02-13T03:35:02Zen
dc.date.available2025-02-13T03:35:02Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/173001
dc.titleClarity tubes as effective citizen science tools for monitoring wastewater treatment works and riversen
dcterms.abstractImproved freshwater resource management requires the implementation of widespread, effective, and timely water quality monitoring. Conventional monitoring methods are often inhibited by financial, infrastructural, and human capacity limitations, especially in developing regions. This study aimed to validate the citizen-scientist-operated transparency or clarity tube (hereafter “clarity tube”) for measuring water clarity as a proxy for total suspended solids (TSS) concentration, a critical quality metric in river systems and wastewater treatment works (WWTW) effluent in Southern Africa. Clarity tubes provided a relatively accurate and precise proxy for TSS in riverine lotic systems and WWTW effluent, revealing significant inverse log- linear relationships between clarity and TSS with r 2 = 0.715 and 0.503, respectively. We demonstrate that clarity-derived estimates of TSS concentration (TSScde) can be used to estimate WWTW compliance with WWTW effluent TSS concentration regulations. The measurements can then be used to engage with WWTW management, potentially affecting WWTW performance. Overall, these findings demonstrate the usefulness of clarity tubes as low-cost, accessible, and easy-to-use citizen science tools for high spatial and temporal resolution water quality monitoring, not only in rivers in Southern Africa but also in WWTW effluent for estimating compliance, with strong global relevance to the sustainable development goals (SDGs).en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.available2024-09-01en
dcterms.bibliographicCitationGraham, P. M.; Pattinson, N. B.; Lepheana, A. T.; Taylor, R. J. 2024. Clarity tubes as effective citizen science tools for monitoring wastewater treatment works and rivers. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 20(5):1463-1472. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.4937]en
dcterms.extent1463-1472.en
dcterms.issued2024-09en
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
dcterms.publisherWiley Periodicals LLCen
dcterms.subjectcitizen scienceen
dcterms.subjectwastewater treatmenten
dcterms.subjectwater qualityen
dcterms.subjectriversen
dcterms.subjectfreshwateren
dcterms.subjectmonitoringen
dcterms.subjectparametersen
dcterms.typeJournal Article

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