4 minute read
MAD
Why social data matters
The hydro-social cycle, rather than the traditional hydrological cycle, identifies social power and structures, inequality in water provision, and institutions and governance processes that shape the outcomes of water management
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While water management has been framed predominantly as a technical field informed by natural science and engineering expertise – and addressed through infrastructure provision – it also has a social and political dimension that involves power relations, human values, behaviour and attitudes, providing a broader context for water management and governance.
The hydro-social cycle promotes a critical analysis of water-society relationships, positioning humans within the hydrologic cycle, where society and water outcomes are shaped by complex interactions between social, political, historical, economic and hydrological factors.
“The hydro-social cycle, rather than the traditional hydrological cycle, identifies social power and structures, inequality in water provision, and institutions and governance processes that shape the outcomes of water management. Social data relating to the hydro-social cycle helps to create just and transformative sustainability in our water and sanitation systems,” explains Cathy Sutherland, associate professor from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, who has recently joined WISA’s new Modelling and Data (MAD) Division to support the production and use of social and governance data.
How is social data used?
The Blue Diversion Autarky toilet, developed by Eawag in Switzerland, is a sanitation system that does not rely on water and wastewater infrastructure. It was tested as part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Reinvent the Toilet Challenge in a single peri-urban household in Durban, as the only form of sanitation for three months. The effectiveness of the toilet was measured from both a technical and social perspective. The social acceptability of the toilet, which is key to its success, was determined by ensuring that household members played a central role in the coproduction of knowledge around the functioning and social acceptability of this innovative sanitation system.
In another project, the Blue Diversion Autarky handwashing station, developed by Eawag and EOOS in Austria, was tested in an informal settlement in Durban for three months. The water treatment system recycles handwashing water, which means the station can operate independently off the grid.
Residents of the informal settlement, who had been trained by researchers from KwaZulu-Natal, collected data on the use of the system, to determine the community response to and acceptability of the system. This local knowledge (social data) assists scientists and government officials in developing a better understanding of the effectiveness of innovative water systems that address water scarcity and the lack of access to largescale infrastructure.
Social data has also been collected on water and sanitation services across different informal settlements in Durban, including surveys on the satisfaction of informal settlement residents of communal sanitation facilities. The results of the surveys reveal high use of the communal ablution blocks (CABs) – the multiple ways in which they are used, including for sanitation, water collection, showering and laundry – but also the significant challenges of the system in providing dignified and safe sanitation.
Within the Palmiet Catchment Rehabilitation Project, river rehabilitation is being supported through a community-based partnership where ‘EnviroChamps’ report sewage outflows on a smartphone app that provides data to the municipality. Community members, through their collection and transfer of data have become social agents of change.
Big data platforms
Expert and experiential knowledge is therefore informing more sustainable water management. “This localised data needs to be brought into big data platforms so that it can make a difference. We are currently working with Dublin City University, in association with the European Space Agency, to develop a big data platform to monitor the functioning of CABs so as to manage risk,” says Sutherland. Dublin City University aims to use technical data from satellites, sensors in rivers to detect pathogens, sensors on CABs and waste treatment plants, weather data, clinical data, and apps that track service vehicles in order to build an integrated data platform to monitor sanitation provision and safety. These researchers are working with the WASH R&D Centre at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, which Sutherland and her team are a part of, to bring social data (like a user’s perception of CABs, attitude to using CABs and civic science) into the new big data platform.
“It is new work that we are involved in. I am excited to learn from this and contribute to other social data projects in the water and sanitation space,” adds Sutherland.
Social science in water
Sutherland states that social science brings different kinds of approaches and methodologies, as well as different forms of data. “It is critical to integrate engineering data, natural science data, and social science data for improved water governance and management – to ensure the provision of safe, accessible, dignified, and affordable water and sanitation services for all.”
