Bushfire Waterwatch
Photopoint photos by Robert Shackleton
We’re working with the community to gather information about how our waterways are recovering after the 2009 Black Saturday fires.
Healthy Waterways Waterwatch volunteer monitors began monitoring affected catchments in February 2009. It was soon realised that the fires could have a large impact on waterway health through issues such as sediment load, erosion, nutrient loading and loss of streamside cover.
Volunteer monitors used traditional water quality monitoring techniques, as well as habitat assessments and photopoint monitoring to:
- Assess the impacts of erosion
- Document whether ash and sediment were accumulating in streams
- Record how streamside vegetation regenerates
- Monitor whether the removal of vegetation cover affected water quality parameters such as water temperature and turbidity.
The project is active in 20 sub-catchments of the Yarra and Bunyip Rivers and now has 37 monitors working across 53 sites within the burnt areas and directly downstream of them.
This project has had some fantastic outcomes including:
- Conveying water quality and environmental assessment data from fire affected areas to Melbourne Water’s River Health Team
- Engaging community members in gathering data from fire affected areas and monitoring the recovery of waterways and vegetation
- Conveying information on the environmental recovery back to affected communities
The project will conclude in April 2010 and a report detailing the findings of monitors will be available. For more information, please contact us.
