Tapping the power of Citizen Science

The European Water framework Directive (WFD) is a framework for community action in the field of water policy. European citizens play a key role in the implementation of the WFD. Citizen science, in which scientists and non-scientists work together on scientific projects, is recognized to be an important tool for public participation and engagement. Using an online survey we want to assess whether there are differences in water awareness, perception of water quality and attitude towards citizen science between various groups such as scientists and non-scientists and urban and rural populations. 340 participants filled in the survey on February 1, 2016. The survey will remain open till March 1, 2016. Preliminary results show that 90.3% of participants think we should save water and 84.6% see a role for citizens in monitoring and preserving water quality. Counter intuitively, most people underestimate their direct and indirect daily water use