EUREKA SPRINGS -- A new phone application that will allow the public to report environmental complaints remotely to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality was announced Thursday during the 2014 Arkansas Watershed Conference.
Application users can upload photos with GPS coordinates to the location of suspected environmental violations, said Katherine Benenati, Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality public outreach and assistance division chief.
The ADEQ application is now available in the Google Play Store for Android phones, Benenati said. She said it will be available for iPhone users in the near future. There is no charge to download the application.
"The citizens are really our eyes and ears," Benenati said during the conference held in Eureka Springs. "Our inspectors can't be everywhere all the time."
The public can report environmental concerns to the department online or through documents submitted to the department office, Benenati said. Complaints are often about issues such as illegal dumping or burning. Other examples include odd odors in the air, sediment in water or large amounts of dead fish.
About 1,200 complaints were reported to the department between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 of this year, Benenati said. Of those complaints 400 were submitted online.
An advantage to using the phone application is the GPS coordinates, Benenati said. The coordinates make it easier for inspectors to locate the complaint quickly.
Angela Danovi, Arkansas projects manager with Ozarks Water Watch, said the application will increase accessibility to the ADEQ. She said it is important that the public has the ability to report suspected violations.
"Just because someone has a concern doesn't mean there is a violation but they have the right to complain," Danovi said.
Officials with national, state and local organizations discussed the importance of citizen science during the conference. Citizen science includes people, with or without science backgrounds, that either collect or manage environmental data.
Rick Bonney, keynote speaker and director of program development and evaluation with Cornell Lab of Ornithology, said citizen science has grown in recent decades.
Data collected using citizen scientists has proven to be useful with tracking insects, birds, invasive species and weather. He said citizen data that goes through a credible process including data analysis can be used in research.
"We are starting to save the world little by little with citizen science but we are really disorganized," Bonney said.
Bonney said the surge in citizen science has created multiple organizations that are sometimes working toward the same goal but aren't connected. He said this is one reason why the Citizen Science Association was developed this year.
The association could connect citizen science organizations in the future, Bonney said.
Officials said Arkansas also has seen a surge in residents collecting and reporting scientific data. Water quality is a major focus of many of these organizations.
Stephen O'Neal organizes Stream Team groups for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. The Stream Team is made up of groups around the state that help with water quality issues including data collection and reconstructing stream banks.
It could be as simple as people reporting stream banks that need work, O'Neal said. He said there are thousands of Stream Team volunteers across the state.
"Stream teams can be our eyes and our ears where we can't be," O'Neal said. "They can be on the rivers and tell us where our problems are. They can be that canary sending out a call and then we can bring in the more expensive equipment and figure out the problem."
Organizing the efforts to avoid overlaps with other groups can be difficult, O'Neal said. He said a website is in the works that will list all the current testing sites and data of the Stream Teams. He said this information will help reduce duplicating efforts.
The conference concludes today at the Best Western Conference Center in Eureka Springs.
NW News on 11/21/2014