Can Citizen Monitoring of Urban Waterways Improve the Quality and Management of the Water?

Lessons from China

Metaketa researchers: Zhang Bing, Mark Buntaine

Geographical region: Asia

Project country: China

Case study question: Can citizen monitoring improve the quality and management of urban waterways?

Edited by: Jaclyn Leaver

The Metaketa Initiative is a collaborative research model with a mission to improve knowledge about critical governance issues through rigorous field experiments. In each Metaketa “round,” the initiative coordinates multiple studies on a specific topic or intervention in a variety of countries and contexts.

As part of our efforts to share the results and policy impacts from the Metaketa Initiative, we’ve put together a series of Stories of Change. These stories share case studies that highlight new approaches and interventions used by Metaketa researchers and implementing partners.

Here we share the story of an experiment in China where citizens are monitoring the local waterways in an effort to inform and encourage water resource managers to improve the water quality. This study is part of the third Metaketa round, which focused on the roles, responsibilities, and resources of community-based monitors on the quantity and quality of renewable resources.