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SPECIAL REPORT
Navigating Community- Engaged Research to Understand How Drought Affects Water Quality
Nicholas Stoll, MPH Department of Environmental & Occupational Health, Colorado School of Public Health Francesca Macaluso, MPH Department of Environmental & Occupational Health, Colorado School of Public Health Christine Canaly San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council Katherine A. James, PhD Department of Environmental & Occupational Health, Colorado School of Public Health
communication between research teams and community members cultivates distrust of both scientists and their parent institutions, resulting in additional barriers to improving community health in already higher-risk and historically marginalized communities (Key et al., 2019). CEnR methods represent an alter- native to historical scientific practices and have been highlighted by the environmental justice movement, among others, as a more sustain- able mode of public health practice (Brenner & Manice, 2011; Vohland et al., 2021). CEnR methods have been branded dier- ently in dierent contexts. The term “citizen science” has been used to describe research led by formally trained researchers with sup- port from community volunteers or partici- pants, whereas “community science” has been used to describe the same work in a way that is more inclusive of undocumented persons, or to dierentiate work that is primarily driven by the needs or desires of the community (Key et al., 2019; Silvertown, 2009). Community- engaged methods, however, are increasingly being conceptualized as a spectrum of com- munity involvement in science rather than as entirely distinct research models (Key et al., 2019). Projects can range from a) commu- nity-informed, community-consultation, or community-participation in data collection to b) community-driven or lead, where commu- nity members formulate their own research questions and research teams provide techni- cal support as needed. By nature, the kinds of activities within community-led projects that involve public collaboration and participa-
(8tra)t Community-engaged research (CEnR) is becoming more prevalent in environmental health. With a spectrum of community involvement characterizing this research, it has the potential to foster a diverse set of collaborative dynamics. Our research team has facilitated a regional CEnR eort focusing on the eects of drought driven by climate change. Specifically, the CEnR is focusing on regional water quality by analyzing samples from privately owned groundwater wells and examining the samples for heavy metal contaminants. This special report outlines lessons learned and project management strategies used to facilitate large- scale community-engaged environmental science. Recruitment methods evolved in response to obstacles and included direct mailings, listservs and social media promotion, direct recruitment by local leaders, and local newspaper coverage. Participant onboarding evolved as new recruitment methods were implemented but was standardized to achieve process eciency. External data sources were used to align contextual information of sampled wells to the submitted samples. Open-source tools were used to streamline reporting of results to participants. Scalability, project management, bidirectional involvement with community members and organizations, and accountability are important themes to consider when facilitating environmental CEnR. Keywords: community-engaged research, climate change, drought, water quality, environmental monitoring
I ntroduction Community-engaged research (CEnR) is becoming more prevalent in environ- mental health due to increasing recognition of the problematic legacy of “colonial science,” wherein outside research teams use funding
to investigate their own scientific concerns without consideration for community needs and perspectives (Flatow, 2021; Odeny & Bosurgi, 2022; Watson, 2021). Particularly in the field of public health, lack of community involvement in research projects and poor
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