Monitoring rainwater quality in Arizona

A 2016 paper revealed that four billion people, or close to two-thirds of the world’s population, experience severe water scarcity for at least one month in 12, with half a billion people facing these conditions continuously. In March of this year, a UN report into progress on Sustainable Development Goal 6, ‘clean water and sanitation for all’, has acknowledged that progress towards meeting this goal by the target of 2030 is ‘off track’ and that ‘we need to do more, much more quickly’.

In the US state of Arizona, Project Harvest is empowering participants to take matters into their own hands, by supporting them to collect and conserve water through rainwater harvesting and then monitor the quality of these supplies.

Monica Ramirez-Andreotta is director of Project Harvest and an assistant professor for soil, water and environmental science at the University of Arizona. She explained how the idea emerged from discussions as part of the Garden Roots citizen science project, which centred on the use of gardens as a hub for environmental health research. ‘People started to ask about whether they can use harvested rainwater to irrigate crops and foods that they would be growing, and they asked about what the quality of harvest rainwater was.’