Volunteer Monitoring
Across the region over 140 volunteer monitoring groups monitor over 400 sites across the five major catchments.
Healthy Waterways Waterwatch monitors are trained to conduct tests that assess the health of the waterway.
We have chosen tests that:
- are easy to do
- are inexpensive
- can be done beside the waterway to get an immediate result (no lab required)
- can tell us about the ecological health of a waterway
The results of these tests are compared to guidelines on ecological health.
Many volunteer monitors have tailored their testing to collect data for exciting monitoring projects, including helping to protect endangered species during the drought and assessing the impact of the 2009 bushfires. Find out more about these in the News and Projects section of our site.
By monitoring water quality and biological indicators and observing the environment we can learn about the health of waterways and help identify problems. Healthy Waterways Waterwatch data can also provide an historical record of how waterways have changed over time and identify actions to rectify any problems.
