iSPEX vs WaterLinx | Citizen Science

iSPEX is a hardware add-on for smartphones that analyzes the light that enters it in terms of its spectrum and its polarization.

Water constitutes and connects all life forms on earth. However, current human water- and land-use patterns and emissions from our socio-industrial and consumption practices undermine the capacity of natural ecosystems in water and on land to regenerate themselves to remain a healthy basis for diverse forms of life. The health of interconnected water and soil systems is deteriorating at an ever-faster pace. Potential impacts from climate change threaten to accelerate this decline Just reducing our harmful impacts will no longer suffice. We need to take regenerative action. Restoring healthy water bodies is also a fundamental need to make the planet’s life support system with water and earth more resilient to the potential impacts of climate change. But where should we act first, and what actions promise success? EU Data sets relating to water quality are expensive to obtain and accordingly scantly distributed across time and space. Most data related to large rivers but not smaller streams that may flow through biodiversity-rich areas. Citizen science can play an important role in complementing official data sets on water quality to identify pollution hot spots, in particular in small streams that are not usually monitored by experts (König et al., 2020). This APP provides a citizen science tool to explore water quality and ecosystem health where you stand and can take action. Data collected with this APP can - inform you and any citizen in an accessible manner on where regenerative action for healthy water bodies might be most urgently needed, - open new windows on compliance with EU water quality standards and on the effectiveness of Luxembourg policy making and implementation, - be used by scientists (experts and citizens) to evaluate and learn from regenerative projects. If you would like to engage in both monitoring with this APP and regenerative action, you can seek inspiration for practical projects with impact on www.transformation-lab.lu and www.aktioun-nohaltegkeet.lu .