We Can Crowdsource Clean Water

by Mariam Mostamandy · 2009-08-17 07:09:00 UTC
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Sometimes we can see the future from this blog. Our comment of the week is from Scot Frank on the What Can Crowdsourcing Do for Global Health? post. Scot tells us about Citizen Water who are already using crowdsourcing to magnify their impact.

Citizen Water provides communities with the tools they need to conduct their own water testing. Their goal is to bridge the gap between "communities seeking safe water and the people with the knowledge and resources to help them achieve it." That is practically a definition of crowdsourcing best practice, and they are doing some exciting things. Read about it:

At Citizen Water we are using crowdsourcing in rural and urban communities around the world to collect water quality data which is then displayed on an interactive map. Participants are provided with appropriate and locally-producible treatment solutions based on their specific test results, along with education about water and sanitation. These citizen science efforts are currently underway in Ghana, The Philippines, Dominican Republic, and China.

Through crowdsourcing we've also successfully translated the water testing instructions into Spanish and Chinese, and we hope more will come soon so other communities can participate to obtain safe drinking water for themselves.

As one example: a barefoot doctor we trained last month is now testing for water-borne diseases in rural Himalayan villages he visits, while students of the nearby school instruct fellow classmates on how to test water in their remote home areas.

As one effort within 'crowdsourcing for global health', we agree with you that there is much potential in this space, as well as for people to innovate their own solutions for health.

http://www.CitizenWater.org

Scot, please contact me to choose where you would like your charity gift sent.

Mariam Mostamandy
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