Unlocking the global benefits of Earth Observation to address the SDG 6 in situ water quality monitoring gap

Harriet Louise Wilson ^1* Nina Raasakka ² Evangelos Spyrakos ¹ David Millar ³ Merrie Beth Neely ⁴ Anham Salyani ² Shubham Pawar ¹ Igor Chernov ⁵ Karen de Lespérance Ague ⁶ Adenike Akinsemolu ⁷ Analy Baltodano Martinez ⁸ Carmen Cillero Castro ⁹ Michelle Del Valle ¹⁰ Mohamed Fadlelseed ¹¹ Anabella Ferral ¹² Jemal Mohammed Hassen ¹³ Dalin Jiang ¹ Tracey Kudzanai Kudzanai Mubambi ¹⁴ Ruth Sofia La Fuente Pillco ⁸ Lukumon Olaitan Lateef ¹⁵ Felipe de L. Lobo ¹⁶ Jérôme Marty ¹⁷ Albert Nkwasa ¹⁸ Julia Akinyi Obuya ¹⁹ Igor Ogashawara ²⁰ Ils Reusen ²¹ Ashley Rogers ¹ Susanne I. Schmidt ²² Kabindra Sharma ²³ Stefan Simis ²⁴ Shenglei Wang ²⁵ Stuart Warner ²⁶ Andrew Tyler ¹

• ¹ University of Stirling, Stirling, United Kingdom
• ² United Nations Environment Programme (Kenya), Nairobi, Kenya
• ³ Hydro Nation Chair Research and Innovation Programme, University of Stirling, Stirling, United Kingdom
• ⁴ Global Science and Technology, Inc., Greenbelt, Maryland, United States
• ⁵ University of Geneva, Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
• ⁶ University of Abomey-Calavi, Abomey-Calavi, Atlantique, Benin
• ⁷ Green Institute, Ondo, Nigeria
• ⁸ Vrije University Brussels, Brussels, Brussels, Belgium
• ⁹ 3edata. Ingeniería Ambiental, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
• ¹⁰ FinSat Inc, New York, United States
• ¹¹ Sudan Youth Parliament for Water, Khartoum, Sudan
• ¹² Instituto Gulich (UNC-CONAE) and CONICET, Córdoba, Argentina
• ¹³ Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Dessie, Ethiopia
• ¹⁴ Environmental Management Agency, Harare, Zimbabwe
• ¹⁵ NOVA University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Lisboa, Portugal
• ¹⁶ Center for Technological Development, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
• ¹⁷ International Association for Great Lakes Research, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
• ¹⁸ International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria
• ¹⁹ Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States
• ²⁰ Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin, Berlin, Germany
• ²¹ Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Antwerp, Belgium
• ²² Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH - UFZ, Magdeburg, Germany
• ²³ Sikkim University, Gangtok, Sikkim, India
• ²⁴ Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, England, United Kingdom
• ²⁵ International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS), Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
• ²⁶ Global Environment Monitoring Unit, UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya

Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 requires innovative and often disruptive approaches to address critical gaps in global water quality monitoring. The most recent SDG Indicator 6.3.2 (Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality) progress report highlights a critical water quality data gap, with an urgent need for countries to strengthen their monitoring capacity and commence state water quality assessments and trends analysis. Earth Observation (EO) technologies hold immense potential to close that gap for SDG Indicator 6.3.2. However, limited awareness, lack of skill, and resource inequalities are some of the barriers which hinder EO's widespread adoption. We present insights from a unique 2024 workshop held at the University of Stirling, which convened diverse participants from academia, industry, NGOs, and international agencies and across disciplines, geographies, and sectors. Through creative and collective thinking approaches, they developed four actionable concepts: (1) Space Buzz: a media campaign to raise awareness of EO's value; (2) centralised EO access hubs to empower users and improve equality;(3) scalable education strategies for capacity building; and (4) an Intergovernmental Panel for Water Quality to enhance global coordination. Each concept derived from a synoptic creative process, demonstrating the uniqueness of thinking within the teams. To unlock the potential of EO for global water quality monitoring, we invite EO networks, funders, water resource managers and individuals to champion these concepts, and incorporate them into funding calls and proposals. Our findings underscore the importance of broader stakeholder engagement to reveal innovative solutions.