Aim
Promote the participation of communities in the valuation, rescue and defence of their rivers.
Empower communities and grassroots social organisations to be able to:
- assess the quality of water resources in their localities, their temporal and spatial variations, and protect public health.
- know the importance of water quality and its relationship to human well-being and ecosystem health.
- know the requirements relating to the protection of the resource for various uses.
- assess the impacts of water uses (and their residual discharges) on watercourses.
- recognise the importance of water quality monitoring and surveillance, early warnings and coordinated and timely responses.
- establish a traceable database to support demands for remediation and mitigation, or specific actions that improve water quality.
- raise awareness and educate about the quality of the water they have access to and the measures needed to use it appropriately.
- identify specific existing or emerging problems associated with changes in watercourse quality.
- gather information to design prevention, mitigation or remediation programmes.
Description
Citizen-based and participatory monitoring through which communities become familiar with periodic sampling techniques to learn about the state and health of their rivers, with an environmental education approach.
Community monitoring of river water consists of water quality assessments in the communities’ water bodies, using macroinvertebrates as bioindicators and physico-chemical analysis.
Steps
1. Programming of the Water Monitoring Days
The scheduling of the water quality monitoring days is managed between the Citizen Water Observatories (OCA) and the National Alliance of Rivers and Watersheds of Costa Rica (ANRCCR) to define the date, time and place of the call for this activity.
The ANRCCR, in turn, coordinates with the Interdisciplinary Programme for Water Research and Management of the National University(PRIGA), the entity in charge of providing the training and field practice.
The OCAs are in charge of managing the logistics to provide a space in their community where the training will take place and will select the transect of the water body under their tutelage where the monitoring will be carried out, as well as the transfer to the site.
The National Alliance of Rivers and Watersheds of Costa Rica assumes the role of the convening body for the activity.
The activity is scheduled for the morning and afternoon of the selected day.
2. PRIGA gives an induction to those present on basic concepts related to water quality analysis
The water quality monitoring training uses macroinvertebrate sampling as bioindicators instrumented in the BMWP-CR index, while the measurement of physico-chemical parameters uses suspended solids, pH, biochemical oxygen demand and turbidity parameters.
3. Preparation and familiarisation with equipment and materials to be used
For the collection of physico-chemical data, PRIGA provides participants with portable laboratory equipment and active agents to analyse the collected samples. The data collected are recorded in a logbook. It also provides the necessary safety equipment to handle the chemical samples and reduce risks for the participants (gloves and protective goggles).
For the collection of arthropods and aquatic vertebrates, participants are provided with aquatic entomological nets for capture on river beds, stones, substrates and river banks. The captured individuals are taxonomically identified by the professional entomology expert.
4. Travel to the water body to take samples and analyse the quality of the water in a community and participatory manner. Accompanied and advised by PRIGA
It should be clarified that, initially, as this is a one-day activity, its purpose is exclusively didactic. More exhaustive sampling requires more periodic sampling and should be coordinated at the request of the OCAs that wish to verify the quality of their waters at different times of the year, given the marked seasonality in the tropics.
5. Once the data have been collected, a scientific report will be issued for each sampling in the river, detailing the sampling carried out, the results obtained and their discussion, as well as recommendations for the community.
6. Organisation of annual workshops to train each community on water quality assessments using macroinvertebrates and physico-chemical parameters, as well as the importance of these in water bodies.
Arrangement of a space for the workshop, preferably with a video beam, to be provided by the community. Coordinate in advance with those in charge of each community to set the day they consider most appropriate for the participation of the majority of neighbours. This coordination is done via email.
Results
- Communities trained in the framework of citizen science through the OCAs as an articulating entity between the communities and the scientific sector.
- Communities familiarised with scientific-technical parameters on the state of their waters, within the framework of environmental education and citizen science.
- Greater community articulation with the scientific sector in the framework of social action.
- The information obtained and the scientific report resulting from the activity can serve as evidence that reinforces community demands and allows influencing actors such as local or central governments to take action to improve water quality.
Rules
- Have adequate field equipment to participate in in situ sampling (rubber boots, waterproof coat) given the changing weather conditions and to enter the riverbed to take water and macroinvertebrate samples.
- Have repellents and skin lotion to prevent mosquito bites and sunburns, respectively.
- Have plastic bags to collect dirty clothes emanating from the activity itself, and have a clean shed at the end of the field activity.
- Although the activity does not specify age restrictions for participation, it is necessary to take the necessary precautions to prevent infants from entering the riverbeds and riverbanks, since the currents of these bodies of water can represent a risk for this population. The same precaution applies to older adults, or people unfamiliar with the changing conditions in river flows.
Scopes and challenges
Periodic sampling requires financial inputs that are difficult to pay for in the long term. The first induction is didactic in nature and does not provide sufficient data to ascertain the environmental health status of the water bodies visited.