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

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cg.authorship.typesNot CGIAR developing country instituteen
cg.contributor.affiliationGroundTruthen
cg.contributor.affiliationUniversity of KwaZulu-Natalen
cg.contributor.donorGroundTruthen
cg.contributor.donorCGIAR Trust Funden
cg.contributor.donorInternational Water Management Instituteen
cg.contributor.initiativeDigital Innovation
cg.howPublishedGrey Literatureen
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4662221en
cg.issn1556-5068en
cg.journalSSRN Electronic Journalen
cg.reviewStatusInternal Reviewen
cg.subject.actionAreaSystems Transformation
cg.subject.impactAreaPoverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs
dc.contributor.authorGraham, Marken
dc.contributor.authorPattinson, Nicholas B.en
dc.contributor.authorLepheana, Ayanda T.en
dc.contributor.authorTaylor, Jimen
dc.date.accessioned2024-01-24T18:49:05Zen
dc.date.available2024-01-24T18:49:05Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/138421
dc.titleClarity tubes as effective citizen science tools for monitoring wastewater treatment works and riversen
dcterms.abstractImproved freshwater resource management requires implementing widespread, effective, and timeous 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 / 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 work (WWTW) effluent in Southern Africa. Clarity tubes provided a relatively accurate and precise proxy for TSS in riverine lotic systems and WWTW effluent, showing significant inverse log-linear relationships between clarity and TSS with r2 = 0.715 and r2 = 0.51, 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 in WWTW effluent for estimating compliance, with strong global relevance to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.audienceAcademicsen
dcterms.available2024
dcterms.bibliographicCitationGraham, Mark and Pattinson, Nicholas and Lepheana, Ayanda and Taylor, Jim, Clarity Tubes as Effective Citizen Science Tools for Monitoring Wastewater Treatment Works and Rivers (December 12, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4662221 or https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4662221en
dcterms.issued2023-12-12
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseOther
dcterms.publisherSocial Science Research Networken
dcterms.subjectwastewateren
dcterms.subjectcitizen scienceen
dcterms.subjectwastewater treatmenten
dcterms.subjectcomplianceen
dcterms.subjectmonitoring systemsen
dcterms.subjectfreshwateren
dcterms.subjectriversen
dcterms.subjectwater qualityen
dcterms.typeWorking Paper

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