SmartPhones4Water Straight to Your Inbox!
This is our first ever quarterly update on all things SmartPhones4Water (S4W). If all goes well, there will be a whole lot more to come. Thank you so much for taking an interest in our mission and our work. S4W seeks to leverage the power of mobile technology and citizen science to enrich lives in the developing world by improving our understanding and management of water resources, and work is currently underway on our first pilot project in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal (S4W-Nepal). Read on to learn more!
If you’re not interested in receiving quarterly updates from S4W, we’ll be sorry to see you go, but you can unsubscribe from the mailing list at the bottom of this email.
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Calling All Citizen Scientists in Nepal!
If you live in the Kathmandu Valley and are interested in participating in the project as a citizen scientist for the S4W-Nepal project please get ahold of us at +977 9823 623 744 or info@SmartPhones4Water.org. Currently, citizen scientists can participate by measuring rainfall, groundwater levels, water levels in local streams, and flows from stone spouts (with lots more on the way!). We are also in the middle of an outreach campaign targeting students and young professionals ages 14 through 35, as well as retired people. If you would like S4W-Nepal to come and make a presentation (Nepali or English) to your school or workplace please let us know. Part of our goal in the Kathmandu Valley is to engage young people, and their energy and enthusiasm, to get them excited and invested in the growing importance of wise resource management.
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On the Ground in Nepal (S4W-Nepal Update)
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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. We accomplish this with our three pronged approach of Research, Education, and Employment. Our first project in Nepal focuses on the Kathmandu Valley, where extreme population growth has led to extensive stress and degradation of water resources and associated ecosystems.
After several short visits over the course of the past several years, Jeff Davids (founder of S4W) moved to the Kathmandu Valley with his family in late 2015. Since then he has been working with local universities, students, governmental agencies, and lots of ordinary people he’s rubbed shoulders with as he moves around the valley to begin collecting the hydrologic data necessary for responsible and sustainable water management. Data collection includes measurements of precipitation, streamflow, groundwater level, spring discharge, and water quality, all of which will all be required to provide baseline information about the quantity and quality of available water in the Kathmandu Valley and how this changes over time.
These data will be collected primarily by citizen scientists (normal people just like you and me, who will also have the chance to earn some supplemental income for each measurement they observe), and they will be recorded using SmartPhones (cellular coverage is leaps and bounds beyond other types of infrastructure in the Kathmandu Valley). As of the end of March 2017, roughly 50 different monitoring locations have been established around the Kathmandu Valley and nearly 1,500 measurements have been taken by a diverse team of 25 citizen scientists, science students, and researchers. For the 2017 monsoon season, starting in June or so, our goal is to have over 100 precipitation monitoring locations within the Kathmandu Valley. One year from now we aim to have 10 to 20 fixed stream flow monitoring points, 100 citizen scientists, and 4 to 6 full time staff working hard to develop the data necessary to make good water management decisions.
Also, beginning in April, through our Facebook and Twitter accounts, we plan to post a story during the first week of the month, with the focus alternating between science and the citizen scientists themselves. Our goal is to provide a closer look at the work itself and the people’s whose lives are being positively changed by it. Keep an eye out for our first science story coming soon!
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Fundraising Update
We are in the middle of a fundraising campaign to raise $50,000 US to support our first pilot project in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. Through the incredible generosity of a variety of supporters thus far, we have currently raised about $40,000 USD (nearly 80% of the way to our fundraising goal). Find out more!
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Spread the Word!
Over the past few months, the SmartPhones4Water team has been actively spreading the word about SmartPhones4Water by getting out there and talking to people all over California. Find out more!
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