NEWS / BLOG

Fitzroy Partnership: towards a better water future Improved water quality monitoring Fitzroy Partnership for River Health is proud of the work of our partners, being the change that is needed for Fitzroy’s Basin water future. While Fitzroy Partnership’s scope remains primarily in water assessment and monitoring, we are also driving change as part of an Australian-first water monitoring project, the Regional Receiving Environment Monitoring Program. The program due to be launched during 2021 aims to create a more comprehensive water monitoring program than the one which exists under current operators’ Environmental Authority conditions. This will in turn support better assessment and reporting on the health of the waterways of the Fitzroy Basin. Further research into water quality and ecosystem health Fitzroy Partnership continues to offer the HeART of the Basin Scholarship which is open to research students at CQUniversity studying Honours, Masters by Research or PhD to progress their learnings in a research topic relating to improving waterway health in the Fitzroy Basin. Previous scholarship recipients have developed a toolbox for fish health assessment in aquatic ecosystems association with coal and gas industries in Central Queensland, researched off stream watering points as a method of riparian restoration and measured the levels and impacts of microplastics on the environment [...]

FBA, Australian and Queensland Governments: Streambank stabilisation project reduces sediment The Fitzroy region has experienced a number of major climate events in recent years: including annual summer wet season flooding, Cyclone Marcia in 2015 and Cyclone Debbie in April 2017 which caused wide-spread devastation. During Cyclone Debbie, a stretch of riverbank along the Fitzroy River retreated approximately 20 metres mobilising 266,000 tonnes of sediment into the waterway. The 1.2km stretch of damaged riverbank located north of Rockhampton became the subject of an Australian first streambank stabilisation project. The $1.8 million project, delivered by FBA and jointly funded by the Commonwealth and Queensland Governments under the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA), was completed in 2019. For six months, the project created 12 full-time jobs in the region, and extended the capability of local suppliers. It is estimated this project will save *90,000 tonnes of sediment from entering the river system annually with long-term benefits to not only the local waterways but also to the health of the Great Barrier Reef. Project outcomes also included protection of nesting habitat for the critically endangered White-throated Snapping Turtle and Fitzroy River Turtle, water and feed availability for cattle to retreat to in the event of a high flood [...]