Citizen scientist monitoring accurately reveals nutrient pollution dynamics in Lake Tanganyika coastal waters

Several studies in Lake Tanganyika have effectively employed traditional methods to explore changes in water quality in open waters; however, coastal monitoring has been restricted and sporadic, relying on costly sample and analytical methods that require skilled technical staff. This study aims in validating citizen science water quality collected data (nitrate, phosphate and turbidity) with those collected and measured by professional scientists in the laboratory. A second objective of the study is to use citizen scientist data to identify the patterns of seasonal and spatial variations in nutrient conditions and forecast potential changes based on expected changes in population and climate (to 2050). The results showed that the concentrations of nitrate and phosphate measured by citizen scientists nearly matched those established by professional scientists, with overall accuracy of 91% and 74%, respectively. For total suspended solids measured by professional and turbidity measured by citizen scientists, results show that, using 14 NTU as a cut-off, citizen scientist measurements of Sec-chi tube depth to identify lake TSS below 7.0 mg/L showed an accuracy of 88%. In both laboratory and citizen scientist-based studies, all measured water quality variables were significantly higher during the wet season compared to the dry season. Climate factors were discovered to have a major impact on the likelihood of exceeding water quality restrictions in the next decades (2050), which could deteriorate lake conditions. Upscaling citizen science to more communities on the lake and other African Great Lakes would raise environmental awareness, inform management and mitigation activities, and aid long-term decision-making.