STREAMWATCH
STREAMWATCH
A COMMUNITY LEGACY KEEPING AN EYE ON OUR WATERWAYS ACROSS SYDNEY
Capacity to Deliver -
LP040-010
The issue
There is no integrated approach to the open-source water quality data and management of our fresh waterways across Sydney’s catchments. Long-term water monitoring programs are scarce and valuable in Australia. They are fundamentally essential to understanding where a system currently is, in terms of natural climate cycles and a range of changes made by humans in the past. They are crucial for understanding long term trends in the landscape. The ad-hoc nature of water-quality monitoring across Sydney creates a substantial knowledge gap, currently limiting the ability of councils, asset owners and state agencies to enact best-practice management of our local urban waterways.
The solution
Streamwatch is working to overcome patchy monitoring by empowering communities from the ground up. A conservation program that collects long-term data, Streamwatch assesses sites monthly for impacts. The collected data within the local site’s geomorphic conditions of the landscape creates a benchmark. Scientifically-proven methods are used to collect data “by the people for the people”. In doing so, the program is providing evidence for authorities to respond to pollution events in urban waterways, making changes needed to preserve, protect and adapt together. This is supporting social change and building partnerships within our communities for a framework of responsibility.
The impact
We are using the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) Bio Collect to collect and manage ecological citizen science data. Holistic monitoring methods are used in the Hawkesbury Nepean, Gorges River, Cooks, Illawarra, Parramatta, Lane Cove and Coastal Catchments. We are delivering real natural resource outcomes, using modern technology and assessment techniques to report on water quality, macroinvertebrate and riparian condition data. With consideration to the relationship between aquatic and riparian ecosystems, Streamwatch is allowing insights into the rivers and their importance to protect our freshwater ecosystem for future generations.
Learnings
The ongoing implementation of Streamwatch will preserve a 30-year data set that spans across greater Sydney. It will ensure that the program can be built on and contributed to into the future, promoting healthy, productive water catchments and bringing accountability to our communities. Monitoring methods are employed to consider the relationship between aquatic and riparian ecosystems. We are collecting digital image records, consisting of vegetation, erosion and stream flows. We are enabling a mindset and culture change by empowering, training and educating on our impacts on waterways.
Key facts
- Atlas of living Australia, ALA Bio collect an updated open-sourced database.
- A new ‘Alert Streamwatch Kit’.
- Working with a scientific expert technical panel from leading universities across Sydney will help us shape and strengthen the future of Streamwatch in Citizen Science.