IMPROVING ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER THROUGH SCIENCE AND COMMUNITY COLLABORATION

• Theme: Clean Water Supply and Provisioning

• Project: Engaging communities in research and biotech water quality and treatment innovation processes

Many communities around the world struggle to access clean water. In the small town of Makhanda in the water-scarce region of the Eastern Cape, water issues are long-standing due to drought and ageing infrastructure. Making water accessible to everyone requires intervention from different parts of society, including scientists. But to make projects sustainable, the support and initiative of affected communities are also needed.  

The BioSENs (Sensors, Energy and Nanomaterials) research group and postgraduate Biotechnology students at Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 set out to address water quality issues in Makhanda. Most importantly, this was done in conversation with community members to address their concerns and collaboratively develop solutions. Together, they established a community-engaged water testing facility at Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网’s Biotechnology Innovation Centre (RUBIC). Still active today, the facility measures the presence of microbiological contaminants.

Engaging Communities in Scientific Research

“To address environmental issues in context, local perspectives must be integrated and considered,” noted researchers from the BioSENs group, including Khumalo, Mickelsson, Fogel, Mutingwende, Madikiza, and Limson (2024), who published the results of their research in a recent paper published in Sustainability.

Engaging communities in scientific research in this way can support sustainability and make science relevant to local and global development challenges. Instead of scientists and researchers coming into communities and telling them what to do, engaged research focuses on collaborating with communities on issues they care about and which affect them. The product is research that is co-created between the community and researchers.

Khumalo et al. noted the importance of this kind of research in the South African context: “[The research] highlights the value of bridging the gap between scientists and communities, of particular importance in the South African context and more so within a community like Makhanda’s, in which deep inequalities and poor service delivery overlap and persist.”

Community-led research is vital because it can meaningfully inform and generate new research questions and processes, driving science innovation. And it is also more likely to drive long-lasting changes in community practices and have sustainable benefits for the community.

“To address environmental issues in context, local perspectives must be integrated and considered.”

Although scientific research often attempts to be collaborative, it is usually researcher-centric, with communities only being included at the end of research processes, which limits the ability of local perspectives and knowledge to shape research questions and, ultimately, the resulting innovations. Khumalo et al. explained that community empowerment and a sense of shared ownership is more likely when the community understands the project aims well and local knowledge is incorporated into the research.

Co-creating a water-testing facility in Makhanda

In the BioSENS project, student scientists engaged community members early in the research process, and scientific and local community knowledge were valued equally. At the outset, the community’s need for a water testing facility was established through focus groups. Residents thought water testing would help them make more informed decisions about their water use.

Residents of Makhanda use their eyesight, taste, and smell to assess the water quality in the town daily, and this local knowledge provided essential insights for the researchers regarding the nature and extent of factors affecting water quality. It also informed where the researchers should collect water samples and when.

For example, the community identified water trucks and stored water at schools as essential sites for water testing. Residents also pointed out how the water was murkier immediately after a period of no water and that sometimes it cleared with time, making this a crucial time for assessing water quality.

“[The research] highlights the value of bridging the gap between scientists and communities, of particular importance in the South African context and more so within a community like Makhanda’s, in which deep inequalities and poor service delivery overlap and persist.”

While residents already demonstrated agency through water treatment methods – such as the common practice of boiling water – the research further built capacity and facilitated empowerment as the community took an active role in conceptualising and implementing the water testing facility. They also noted the municipality’s role in ensuring access to clean water. They saw the water testing facility and collaboration with RUBIC as a way to facilitate better communication and responsiveness between the local government and the wider community.

Creating sustainable solutions together

This science-engagement approach was summarised succinctly by Khumalo et. al.: “Through recognising local knowledge and integrating it with scientific knowledge, we attempted to collaboratively co-create knowledge about water concerns and build capacity in the community.”

This kind of engaged science research can help to make interventions sustainable and encourage community development from below. Such approaches can go a long way in supporting the Sustainable Development Goals: “This [way of conducting science] represents a crucial step in creating awareness and shared frames of thinking towards attaining sustainable development goals.”

Making clean water accessible to everyone is essential, but affected communities must play a meaningful part in creating the solutions that will impact them. Science engagement marks an important step towards fulfilling this vision.

Publication:

Khumalo, L.; Mickelsson, M.; Fogel, R.; Mutingwende, N.; Madikiza, L.; Limson, J. Progressing from Science Communication to Engagement: Community Voices on Water Quality and Access in Makhanda. Sustainability 2024, 16, 459. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16010459