This is our second story about one of our fantastic citizen scientists (you can read the first one here). Hope you enjoy meeting another important member of the team!
Q: What is your name? A: My name is Suraj Ghimire.
Q: How old are you? A: I’m 11 years old.
Q: Where were you born? A: I was born in Jhor, Kathmandu.
Q: Where do you live in the Kathmandu Valley? A: I live in Jhor, in the Kathmandu District, in the northern part of the Kathmandu Valley.
Q: Can you walk us through a typical day of life? What are the activities you’re doing? A: I go to school at 9:30 am and come back home around 4:00 pm. After school I do my homework, watch TV, and collect precipitation data for S4W-Nepal.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about your family? A: I have a brother and sister; I am the youngest in my family.
Q: What is (or was) your favorite subject in school? A: English is my favorite subject, and I don’t like science at all.
Interviewer’s Note: While it was sad to hear Suraj say he doesn’t like science, we are glad he can still play an active role in S4W-Nepal. We are confident that he will warm up to science one day!
Q: Can you tell us about a favorite moments of yours? A: My favorite moment is whenever I ride my bicycle.
Q: How did you hear about the S4W-Nepal project? A: The S4W-Nepal team was in the area near our home, looking for willing citizen scientists to participate in the project. I was one of those willing citizen scientists!
Q: What has been your experience as a citizen scientist with S4W so far? A: I have enjoyed learning about something new! I am also receiving encouragement from the people around me as well; they are proud of me for getting a job.
Suraj is playing a critical role in S4W-Nepal as a citizen scientist. Each day, Suraj uses an Android application called Open Data Kit (ODK) to record rainfall collected by an inexpensive locally made rain gauge (each costs about $1.50). Suraj is the youngest citizen scientist participating in S4W-Nepal. He is motivated to participate in the project because of a desire to take care of the water resources he and his family rely on, and because each observation he makes earns him 25 rupees (roughly $0.25).
S4W-Nepal is a collaboration between S4W, Himalayan Bio-Diversity and Climate Change Center (HimBioCliCC), Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences (KIAS), Delft University of Technology, the Swedish International Development Agency, and Stockholm University. Water is our most precious resource. Lord Kelvin, a famous Scottish mathematician, once said, “you can’t manage a resource you don’t measure.” S4W-Nepal’s goal is to generate the data necessary to support wise water management decisions. S4W aims to accomplish this with a three pronged approach of Research, Education, and Employment. This project in the Kathmandu Valley is our first project.
The S4W-Nepal team was pleased that the Pre-Monsoon Workshop held in Tinkune on June 17th was a success! Thanks to everyone who was able to attend and participate in this important discussion. We are planning to have a Post-Monsoon celebration, so stay tuned for details. Also, please consider participating in the Kathmandu Institute for Applied Science (KIAS) Mountains in a Changing World (MoChWo) Citizen Science Symposium on October 27th and 28th 2017.
SmartPhones4Water (S4W) was created with the mission of utilizing mobile technology and citizen science to enrich lives in the developing world by improving our understanding and management of water resources. Collectively, we are passionate about (1) people in the margins and (2) wise stewardship of our natural resources. We believe that water links these themes in a most profound way.
Now all of that sounds really great, but what does it actually mean? On a practical level, what does our attempt to fulfill our mission look like? How do citizen scientists use smartphones to collect the data necessary for wise stewardship of water, one of our most precious natural resources? Great questions! Keep reading for the answers 🙂
Our first project is focused on the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal (find out more here). Currently, one of our priority goals is to collect precipitation data for the upcoming monsoon season (approximately June through September). All of the available water resources in the Kathmandu Valley originated as precipitation, and for current and continuing management of water resources in the valley, it is critical to understand the location, timing, and quantity of precipitation input to the Kathmandu Valley. If we don’t know where, when, and how much is coming in, we can’t know how much supply is available to be safely and sustainably used to the meet the various water demands in the valley.
We have a team of staff and citizen scientists scattered across the valley currently at work collecting these important data, and we’ll run you through a typical precipitation measurement as an example of citizen scientist data collection using a SmartPhone. Buckle up! Here we go!
We’ve developed a rain gauge that uses locally available materials and can be constructed for approximately 150 NPR (roughly $1.50). Over the last few months, S4W staff have installed these across the valley to characterize rainfall in different areas. These gauges are maintained and measured by citizen scientists. In one location, three different types of rain gauges are installed alongside our “homemade” gauge as a test of the accuracy and to better understand different measurement methods of precipitation and any biases that may exist. The three other types of gauges are: (1) Onset Hobo tipping bucket rain gauge, (2) Nepal Department of Hydrology and Meteorology standard rain gauge, and (3) CoCoRaHS 4” rain gauge.
Figure 1. Four rain gauges installed on a rooftop in Kathmandu to test precipitation measurement accuracy.
As precipitation occurs, the gauge is filled with water and the amount of precipitation can be manually read off of the gauge. Citizen scientists are encouraged to take daily measurements of precipitation, and they are able to record them on their smartphone using the Open Data Kit (ODK) application and tools, which is a free and open-source technology originally developed with support from Google with the goal of using technology to improve the lives of underserved populations around the world.
Figure 2. Precipitation Measurement Locations Across the Kathmandu Valley (Google Maps).
The measurement process in ODK guides users through recording a precipitation measurement in the following step-by-step process:
Confirming accuracy of SmartPhone’s date and time and recording them as the time of measurement
Using SmartPhone’s internal GPS to record location (i.e. latitude, longitude, altitude, and accuracy) of measurement
Selecting the parameter to measure
Precipitation would be selected for a rain gauge measurement, although the other parameters that S4W is collecting data on include water level, water flow, water temperature, groundwater levels, and water quality.
Manually entering the precipitation measurement as read from the S4W rain gauge
Taking a photo of the rain gauge and resulting precipitation measurement
This step is important for QA/QC purposes. All of the measurement are reviewed by a member of the S4W team to confirm that the manually entered value matches what is seen in the photo.
Entering any comments about the precipitation measurement (optional)
Figure 3 through Figure 5 below visually demonstrate the measurement process through SmartPhone screenshots and a few pictures from the field.
Figure 3. The initial steps of recording datetime and location for a precipitation SmartPhone measurement.Figure 4. Selecting a precipitation measurement and reading precipitation off of the rain gauge.Figure 5. The final step of taking a photograph of the rain gauge for a precipitation measurement.
After the measurement has been completed, it is transmitted over the cellular network to a centralized server where it is imported into a ODK Aggregate database. These data are then exported to a custom-built database that has be designed to run automatic QA/QC procedures and organize and summarize the data into a user-friendly format. Through the database, manual QC/QA procedures (e.g. the photo review described above) can be completed, and the data can be processed and organized to determine results over time, which is ultimately what we’re really interested in.
Hopefully that clears up the picture of how citizen science and SmartPhone technology intersect in our best attempt to fulfill our mission of utilizing mobile technology and citizen science to enrich lives in the developing world by improving our understanding and management of water resources.
Check back next month for another story of one of our citizen scientists 🙂
Every month we will be posting a story about the work we are currently doing in Nepal. We will be alternating between science-focused and citizen scientist-focused stories. The citizen scientist stories will be interviews with some of the wonderful citizen scientists that we are privileged to be partnering with to collect this important data. This is our first one; we hope you find it interesting and enjoy 🙂
Q: What is your name? A: My name is Sabina Shrestha.
Q: How old are you? A: I’m 25 years old.
Q: Where were you born? A: I was born in Sindupalchowk.
Interviewer’s Note: This was one of the areas greatly affected by the earthquake in 2015, especially the second main shock centered to the northeast of Kathmandu.
Q: When did you move to the Kathmandu Valley? A: I moved to the Kathmandu Valley after getting married 8 years ago.
Q: Where do you live in the Kathmandu Valley? A: I live in Chovar, in the Kathmandu District.
Interviewer’s Note: Chovar is on the south side of the Kathmandu Valley, right where the Bagmati River leaves the Valley and heads south towards the Tarai (the plains on the border with India).
Q: Can you walk us through a typical day of life? What are the activities you’re doing? A: I help to run a small store near the entrance of a Hindu Temple, and I raise two children.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about your family (Spouse, Children, Brothers, Sisters, Cousins, etc.)? A: I have a husband named Roshan, my first son named Abusan who is 7, and another son named Asirbad who is 14 months. We live in the home that my husband’s mother (Iswari) was born in 64 years ago.
Interviewer’s Note: it is quite common for 3 or 4 generations of families to live together in one household in Nepal (and much of Asia for that matter).
Q: What is (or was) your favorite subject in school? A: Nepali!
Q: Can you tell us about a favorite memory of yours? A: My favorite memories are of my two sons being born.
Q: How did you hear about the S4W-Nepal project? A: The S4W-Nepal team was looking for a place to store some extra equipment while they were taking measurements in the Bagmati River a few months ago. We let them keep the equipment in our courtyard, and we have been friends since then.
Q: What has been your experience as a citizen scientist with S4W so far? A: It has been fun to learn about something new!
Sabina is playing a critical role in S4W-Nepal as a citizen scientist. Each day, Sabina uses an Android application called Open Data Kit (which you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about next month if you keep checking back!) to record rainfall collected by an inexpensive locally made rain gauge (each costs about $1.50 to construct) and the water level in the Bagmati River just below her house. Sabina is motivated to participate in the project because she feels a sense of responsibility to care for the river, and because each observation she makes earns her an extra 25 rupees (roughly $0.25).
S4W-Nepal is a collaboration between S4W, Himalayan Bio-Diversity and Climate Change Center (HimBioCliCC), Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences (KIAS), Delft University of Technology, the Swedish International Development Agency, and Stockholm University. Water is our most precious resource. Lord Kelvin, a famous Scottish mathematician, once said, “you can’t manage a resource you don’t measure.” S4W-Nepal’s goal is to generate the data necessary to support wise water management decisions. S4W aims to accomplish this with a three pronged approach of Research, Education, and Employment. This project in the Kathmandu Valley is our first project.
Sabina, Asirbad, and Iswari near their home. The Bagmati River can be seen in the background on the left.
The location of the first SmartPhones4Water (S4W) project is the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, which is an area of approximately 587 square kilometers or 227 square miles. It is also home to somewhere between 1.3 and 5 million people. Assuming a 2.5 million person population, and assuming that the population is evenly spread out over the entire watershed (which it isn’t), that’s nearly 4,300 people per square kilometer or 11,000 people per square mile. It’s a lot of people in a little space!
Much of this population growth has occurred over the last 50 years or so, as people have moved to the Kathmandu Valley to escape from political unrest and civil war, or to seek economic opportunities in the big city that weren’t available in more rural areas. This rapid population growth has placed a great deal of stress on the water resources of the Kathmandu Valley. However, how population pressures have impacted water resources have not been fully quantified, and as our favorite Scottish mathematician Lord Kelvin once said, ‘You can’t manage a resource you don’t measure.’ S4W is working to collect the hydrologic data necessary to characterize over time and space the quantity and quality of water in the Kathmandu Valley, all of which will be required to make informed water management decisions in this important water basin.
With such a huge undertaking, where do you begin?
With a map of course! We needed to define the area of interest and better understand the spatial extent and characteristics of the Kathmandu Valley and its water resources. In order to successfully design and implement a successful hydrologic monitoring network, we need to understand where the water is in the Kathmandu Valley.
Figure 1. Kathmandu Valley Digital Elevation Model (DEM).
Our initial dataset was produced by NASA as part of the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) mission and is publically available for free. DEM stands for Digital Elevation Model, and it is essentially a very detailed digital topographic map with elevation for every 30 meter by 30 meter area of land (or “pixel”). This is shown in Figure 1. To get a sense of scale, each pixel in a SRTM DEM takes up roughly the same amount of area as the infield of a Major League Baseball diamond field. Within the Kathmandu Watershed (KTM_Watershed) there are over 652,000 pixels, and each pixel has a value corresponding to the average elevation above mean sea level in meters (colors ranging from 1298 to 2700). Using Quantum GIS (QGIS), an open-source GIS software platform, a GRASS module was run on the DEM to develop a coverage of stream networks. The operation analyzes drainage directions from adjacent cells within the DEM, and the user defines the minimum number of cells that need to accumulate (i.e. have upstream cells) before the drainage area is classified as a stream. This was completed, and the results have since been verified through hiking expeditions and exploring the Kathmandu Valley, which is something we’d love to do anyways, so it’s a win-win. The resulting stream network for the Kathmandu Valley can be seen below in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Kathmandu Valley Stream Network.
The Kathmandu Valley is in the shape of a giant bowl, with all of the major rivers flowing down to the valley floor, joining together, and then exiting through one outlet. There are nine perennial (flowing year round) tributaries to the Bagmati River within the Valley. Beginning from the furthest south and working our way around the rim of the bowl in a counterclockwise direction, they are the Nakkhu, Kodkhu, Godawari, Hanumante, Manohara, Bagmati, Dhobi, Bishnumati, Manamati, and Balkhu. The Bagmati river starts up in the northern most portion of the Valley on the south slopes of Shivapuri peak, and flows southward all the way through and out of the valley, and the others are tributaries to it.
Figure 3. Kathmandu Valley Stream Network with Perennial Waterways Labeled.
Once the map has been developed and the spatial extent of the study area is understood, the monitoring network can be designed. The objective of a monitoring network is to accurately characterize existing conditions through the data that are collected. Over time, this data record will demonstrate seasonal and annual variations and changes, trends (such as decreasing stream flows or lowering groundwater levels, which are symptoms of an over-exerted water basin) can be seen, and these results can guide leaders to make informed water management decisions. S4W is currently in the process of installing data collection sites and hiring citizen scientists as part of the monitoring network in the Kathmandu Valley. To date, approximately 50 stations have been installed and nearly 1,500 measurements have been taken by a diverse team of 25 citizen scientists, science students, and researchers, and we are continuing to grow. One year from now we aim to have 10 to 20 fixed stream flow monitoring points, 120+ total monitoring locations, 100 citizen scientists, and 4 to 6 full time staff working hard to develop the data necessary to make good water management decisions. Finally, the measurements that have been taken to date can be seen in Figure 4 below.
Figure 4. Kathmandu Valley Stream Network Showing S4W Measurements.
We could keep going on for a long time on this stuff (we think it’s pretty fascinating), but we’ll wrap this one up here for now. That’s just a little taste of what we’re up to in Nepal; we hope you found it interesting!
As you read this, we are continuing to expand our monitoring network with the installation of new data collection points, our team of citizen scientists with new additions that are also quickly becoming friends, and our dataset with new measurements that will provide the baseline data necessary for wise stewardship of the Kathmandu Valley’s water resources. Thanks for your interest and your support!
Check back next month for our first story on one of our wonderful citizen scientists!
