University of Ballarat
Project Name: Waterwatch - Central Highlands Region
Location: Victoria
Theme(s): Water Management , Planting for the Environment , Community Action

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BASIC!

Department of the Environment and Heritage

Waterwatch

Central Highlands Region

Declining water quality in the early 1990's sparked the birth of a national Waterwatch Program. Waterwatch is a community education awareness program concerned with water quality monitoring across Australia. The Central Highlands Waterwatch Program has grown over ten years by gaining the support of community organisations and the community in general who have an interest in the health of their water resources.

Contents

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In the beginning…

The birth of the national Waterwatch Program

The “Waterwatch” Program was announced as a new initiative in a “Statement on the Environment” issued by the Australian Government Minister, Dr Bill Phillips, on 21 December 1992. In the statement, Dr Phillips responded to a number of community-based water quality monitoring projects operating around Australia, in particular:

  • Western Australian Ribbons of Blue;and
  • New South Wales Streamwatch.
Interest in these projects reflected “a growing realisation by the community that water is a precious resource” (Government Minister, 1992, p.2). The statement acknowledged the public's increased awareness of the impact of inappropriate landuse practices and direct pollution on water resources, and increased understanding of the Total Catchment Management concept.  
“Water quality is an excellent indicator of environmental ‘health.'” (Government Minister, 1992, p.2)
Following a national workshop held in Canberra in February the following year, relevant agencies and interest groups collaborated to draft a “Waterwatch Strategy” that would guide the Australian Government in coordinating and facilitating community-based water quality monitoring projects throughout the nation.

Waterwatch would aim to:

  • link the existing community-based water quality monitoring projects; and
  • act as a catalyst for developing similar programs elsewhere in Australia
     

Waterwatch comes to the Ballarat Region

  The “Ballarat Water Board” had been active in coordinating an educational awareness and curriculum based program regarding local water resources. In May 1993, the Ballarat Water Board put a submission to the National Landcare Program for funding to support their education campaign, which would also include establishing an ongoing water quality and species monitoring program across six catchment areas for three years. This action would form the foundation for the Waterwatch program.

In addition, this program would assist with implementing the Ballarat Regional Conservation Strategy (Ballarat Regional Board for Planning and Development Inc., 1991) in which Ballarat's water resources were targeted as one of Ballarat's most precious natural resources. The Ballarat region is considered a “watershed” because it is the headwaters of five major systems – Hopkins, Loddon, Moorabool, Woady Yaloak (Lake Corangamite) and Barwon Rivers (Ballarat City Council, revised 1999, p.1). The Ballarat region is also home to the largest population base. This means that actions in this region will impact residents downstream.

In 1994, the Ballarat Water Board became “Central Highlands Water,” managing water resources in Ballarat and surrounding regional towns including Ballan, Skipton, Daylesford and Maryborough.

Waterwatch officially began in the Ballarat Region as the
Central Highlands Region Waterwatch Program in 1994 when:

  • a part-time coordinator (26 hours per week) was employed in November who was responsible for coordinating and facilitating seven local community-based focus projects; and
  • a project management committee was formed in December to guide the program's development. The committee continues today to be comprised of representatives from local industry and community organisations, sponsors, schools, monitoring groups, Central Highlands Water and Local and State Government agencies.

In May 1997, a part-time facilitator (8 hours per week) was employed as a Community Education Officer to work directly with the community.

Also in 1997, a “Strategic Plan” for the Central Highlands Waterwatch Program was developed for 1997-2000. The plan identifies clear strategies to develop specified projects, measurable outcomes, priorities and timelines.
In 2001, staff arrangements for the Waterwatch coordinator went from part-time to full-time. Andrew Harris became the Waterwatch coordinator, responsible for managing the program, setting up the structure and funding arrangements, and organising events and projects. These changed staffing

arrangements reflected the high priority given to the program by the community and supporting agencies as there was more funding made available and greater demand from the community.

By 30 June 2001 the program had engaged with 20 schools, 5 Landcare groups and 7 other community groups who regularly monitored 98 sites in the Central Highlands Region. These sites included rivers, creeks and wetlands.

Waterwatch continues to engage with community groups, schools and Landcare groups through many projects. The key to the success of Waterwatch has been their willingness to be:
  • community focused and community owned;
  • flexible and responsive; and
  • enthusiastic and empowering.

…Community focused and community owned

Waterwatch relies on the support of the community to plan and carry out works.

The philosophy remains one of building the communities' capacity to take ownership over river health.

The emphasis is on community education by raising the awareness of river health and putting into action a desire to care for our water resources. Many of the events and projects coordinated by Waterwatch are done in partnership with community groups and organisations, such as Landcare, schools, scout groups, Field Naturalist Clubs and Bird Observer Clubs. Water is tied into these community-based events so that there is a direct association between the actions of the community and river health.

Financial support comes from mainly public agencies and organisations. Waterwatch have received funding from:

  • the water authority for the region, Central Highlands Water, the major sponsor of the Central Highlands Waterwatch Program;
  • Corangamite Catchment Management Authority (CMA), North Central CMA and Glenelg Hopkins CMA;
    • and
  • other external sources, such as Ballarat City Council and Ballarat Environment Network (BEN).

…Flexible and responsive

Waterwatch is a flexible program. Although there are set programs, it remains flexible so it can respond to issues as they arise. Waterwatch relies on community groups to maintain and run aspects of the program.

Waterwatch is able to deal with different issues that the community identifies as important (compare the LINCS Project that targeted the Yarrowee River System only). This is reflected in the diversity of programs, issues and partnerships with the community. These partnerships are the key. Waterwatch would fail without them as it covers such a large landscape. The challenge for Waterwatch is to tackle and respond to the different situations that arise.

Click here to view a snapshot of the work of Waterwatch over the past 10 years (Waterwatch.ppt - 924KB)

…Enthusiastic and empowering

The Program has gathered momentum by picking people up. People have a vested interest in what they are doing as it is in their backyard and initiated by their concerns. Awareness of the issues becomes action to improve their local environment.

The Waterwatch crew encourage and empower people to see themselves as “monitors” of their local environment. They take into account what the community wants to monitor. They talk with

individuals about the issues in and around their region. For example, one farmer suspected that the quality of his dam water was causing lamb loss. He monitored the water quality of the dam and realised that the dam water was too salty for lambs. He was then able to place the ewes elsewhere during lambing.

Waterwatch provides the equipment needed for monitoring and tracking. Monitoring is strategic, rather than adhering to the philosophy of “monitor till you drop”! Supporting targeted and purposeful action means that the Waterwatch officers are seen to be helpful and their skills are valued. For example, it was found that the runoff from a local nursery was causing increased nutrient levels in nearby reticulation dams. The Waterwatch team worked with the nursery to change their practices, rather than “policing” the situation and reprimanding the nursery.

Future

Waterwatch has a strong future in the Ballarat Region. Support from the community is increasing as more and more people participate in the projects.

In 2003, Waterwatch were working towards reestablishing some wetlands in the Ballarat Region that had been drained. These actions provide community education opportunities, changing people's perception of wetlands from smelly swamps to healthy natural wetland systems that act as water filters.

Other intended projects include:

  • tidying up and restoring Gong Gong Park at the top of the Yarrowee River, removing Willows and reestablishing the Black Duck breeding ground;
  • securing a partnership with Corangamite CMA as part of the River Health Strategy and funding to be available in 2004; and
  • to further enhance the Yuille wetlands.

Resources

  • Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage: www.deh.gov.au
  • Ballarat Environment Network (BEN): www.ben.org.au
  • Central Highlands Water: www.chw.net.au
  • Central Highlands Waterwatch documents, supplied by Andrew Harris:
    • Central Highlands Water Information Sheets:
    • No 6A History of Ballarat's water and wastewater: Past to present and always… (Printed August 1999)
    • No 2D Central Highlands Region Waterwatch Program (Printed March 1999)
    • Australian/State Government Partnership Agreement with National Landcare Program 1993/94, Land and Water projects – Expression of interest. Prepared by Geoff Robbins, Public Relations Manager, Ballarat Water Board, Dated 4 May 1993.
    • Invitation to national workshop Waterwatch – Planning for the Future held in Canberra on 3-4 February 1993. Distributed by Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service.
    • Government Minister's, Dr Bill Phillips, Statement on the Environment, 21 December 1992. Waterwatch: A national community-based water quality monitoring and environmental awareness program
  • City of Ballarat Council: www.ballarat.vic.gov.au
  • Corangamite Catchment Management Authority: www.ccma.vic.gov.au
  • Creswick Landcare Centre: www.alphaville.com.au/~clc
  • Landcare Australia: www.landcareaustralia.com.au
  • Water Education websites:
  • Waterwatch Australia: www.waterwatch.org.au
  • Waterwatch Victoria: www.vic.waterwatch.org.au

Acknowledgments

Andrew Harris, Central Highlands Region Waterwatch Coordinator, Central Highlands Water
Peter Blackburn, Education Officer, Central Highlands Water

Photos by Linda Darby

 
Content coordinated by Ben Quinney, University of Ballarat. | CRISCOS Provider No 00103D| Disclaimers | Guestbook
Date researched: November 2003 | Case study initially prepared: September 2004