Results are in from the Columbia Basin Water Hub Survey 

The Columbia Basin Water Hub is in the final stages of development and testing before its launch as the collective hub of Columbia Basin-relevant water data collected by the water monitoring groups in the Basin. Information on the Water Data Hub can be found in the Water Data Hub brochure.

Living Lakes Canada recently released the Columbia Basin Water Hub Data Quality and Data Use Survey. This was intended to provide the Water Hub development team with more information about the needs and expectations of site users.

SUMMARY OF RESULTS

55 Respondents completed the survey.

Respondents fell under the following categories:

• I am a citizen who is interested in learning more about water data: 29
• I am involved with both collecting and using water data: 13
• I am involved with mater monitoring, collecting data: 10
• I use water data for research or decision making: 3

In short, 26 were Data Collectors and/or users and 29 were Citizens interested in learning more.

According to the survey, the primary limitation members of the public experience when engaging with water data is not knowing where to find the information they are interested in. The Water Hub can become a location where users can find this information. With regard to data quality issues, for respondents using water data for research and decision making, “datasets that are too short” was an option selected frequently. While the Water Hub cannot create longer datasets, where the data has not been collected, the facilitation of digitization and/or uploading of historic data should result in longer records that can be shared. Furthermore, the issue that most respondents experienced “moderately frequently” was the inability to contact the appropriate party with questions. The Water Hub plans to mitigate this issue through the inclusion of contact information for the Data Steward of each dataset.

Ideas expressed through written comments included: the hope that anecdotal information will be incorporated, data will be made publicly available with an increase in historic data, that Indigenous voices will be heard, and that data will be suitable to compare to other data. Respondents hope to see the shared data being utilized and having an impact on decision making in their communities. All of these are values shared by the Water Hub, and the aim is to implement features related to these concepts. These comments are a good reminder of the value and importance of this project.

The data quality needs and expectations that respondents expressed in the survey have been taken into consideration in the development of the Water Hub’s Quality Assurance and Quality Control standards.

To learn more about survey results, contact Columbia Basin Water Hub Database Manager Santiago Botero at: santiago@livinglakescanada.ca

For more background on the Water Hub visit the project page and this recent news post.