Using mobile phone technologies coupledwith water quality testing, there is great opportunity toincrease the awareness of water quality throughout rural andurban communities in developing countries. Whether the focusis on empowering citizens with information about the qualityof water they use in daily life or providing scientific datato water managers to help them deliver safe water to thecitizens, the integration of citizen science, crowdsourcing,and innovative technologies has the potential to createpositive and lasting change. The methodology presentedherein combines empowerment of the public throughparticipation in the scientific process (citizen science)with modern technologies to collect, gather, and disseminatedata (crowdsourcing). By employing a crowdsourcing approachwith innovative technologies, there is potential to harnesslarge amounts of data in areas previously considered eithertoo remote or costly to access. The purpose of thisconceptual framework is to outline the considerations andactivities to be undertaken for a successful water qualitymonitoring project using citizen science and crowdsourcing.Specifically included in the framework are: (1) the researchquestion to be answered through the project; (2) the theoryof change that will lead to desired outcomes; (3) projectdesign considerations to promote a successful pilot; and (4)the methodology outlining implementation steps.
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