Fitzroy Partnership for River Health: Fitzroy Waterwatch – Part of the solution to a better water future

Waterwatch is a network of citizen scientists monitoring waterways in the Fitzroy Basin. Fitzroy Partnership for River Health reinvigorated the Fitzroy Waterwatch program this year as an initiative to help us monitor and sustainably manage our most precious natural asset – fresh water. We’re part of a nation-wide effort to understand and care for waterway ecosystems.

Waterwatch programs support communities to monitor the health of waterways, learn through hands on environmental experience, and to participate in natural resource management. Being a citizen scientist allows individuals to actively contribute to the advancement of knowledge as well as practice stewardship over their local waterways.

Fitzroy Waterwatch is made up of individuals, community groups, and school groups who monitor the chemistry, biology and ecology of their local waterways. Using a new and improved online platform it is easy and accessible to record and use the information they collect. Making the data accessible and transparent for citizen scientists and the community is an important aspect of the Fitzroy Waterwatch program. Check out the Fitzroy Waterwatch page to see monitoring sites and download the data.

Along with an upgrade to the interactive data portal new methods for assessment of riparian vegetation and in-stream habitat condition in our region have been released. These methods have been designed to provide reliable indications of waterway health, be completed rapidly, and be accessible to newbies, citizen scientists, and experts alike.

The renewed program launched in the Emerald Botanical Gardens in March this year. It was a beautiful day the Fitzroy Partnership for River Health team spent meeting Theresa catchment locals and sampling the Nogoa River. We hope we can reach more and more communities across the Fitzroy Basin to monitor, connect and protect our waterways.