Community-Based Integrated Water Monitoring: The Example of "CURA H20"

While significant amounts of valuable data are collected annually through community-based environmental monitoring, the integration and use of this data by resource managers and decision makers remains limited. One of the most... [ view full abstract ]

While significant amounts of valuable data are collected annually through community-based environmental monitoring, the integration and use of this data by resource managers and decision makers remains limited. One of the most prevalent challenges in integrating environmental data gathered by volunteers is the potential for inconsistent collection methods, resulting in uncertainty of data accuracy. CURA H2O (http://curah2o.com/)seeks to address this challenge by standardizing data collection processes at the community level, and has developed a water quality monitoring training and certification course and an accompanying toolkit that will provide all necessary monitoring equipment.

Funded by the Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) program of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, CURA H2O focuses on community-based water quality monitoring and the advancement of integrated watershed management in Nova Scotia and abroad. CURA H2O engages the public in meaningful participatory management, and will provide resource managers with a broader set of reliable data upon which to base more informed decisions. The theoretical research directing CURA H2O will generate new knowledge around issues of effective community-based resource management, improved accuracy of data collection, and the successful integration of volunteer monitoring into resource management. Potential social benefits of this research include not only the empowerment of communities to successfully assess the health and needs of their watershed, but also the development of a grassroots capacity to create solutions to environmental degradation concerns that negatively affect local water quality.