A24-Muddy-Water-Project

Project Title: Citizen Science on the Muddy River: Low-Cost Methods for Accessing River Conditions

Project Overview: 

The Muddy River is a significant part of the Emerald Necklace Park system in Boston, MA and is the most polluted tributary of the Charles River. Organizations have been working to restore the river. However, there is a lack of continuous data about the river’s conditions which makes it difficult to understand their effects. Our project developed accessible methods that volunteers can use to collect data about flow patterns, water levels, and visual status to inform restoration planning and to expand community engagement. We raised questions about how the intersectionality of poor river conditions can be enhanced through citizen science. Involving community volunteers in data gathering can grow knowledge about the river and a constituency that advocates for better restoration.

 

About Our Team:

Oluwapelumi Akingbile | Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science 

Baipeng Liu | Mechanical Engineering

Madeline Talbot | Biomedical Engineering

Rachel Tsang | Mechanical Engineering

Seth Tuler | Project Advisor

About Our Sponsor: http://muddywaterinitiative.org

Throughout this project, we have worked with our sponsor Caroline Reeves who is the Co-founder of the Muddy Water Initiative. She  advocates for cleaner and safer water for our planet. Caroline has lived next to the Muddy River for 25 years.

Project Outcomes:

We produced outcomes that our sponsor and their organization can apply to future projects, such as implementing continuous water depth gauges for more comprehensive, year-round monitoring. While time and resource constraints prevented us from drawing definitive conclusions about the river’s conditions, we still see value in our methods. If a nonprofit uses them, they can increase community engagement in Muddy River restoration efforts, maximize their fundings, and integrate citizen science into their organization. We also produced an ArcGIS StoryMap to present our methods and data collection points with photos.

Muddy Water Initiative