Rockhampton Regional Council: Investing in renewables and continuous improvement at Fitzroy River Water Rockhampton Regional Council’s Sustainability Strategy (Towards 2030) recognises the need to create a sustainable future for the Rockhampton Region and to strengthen our community, environmental and economic resilience. As we move towards 2030, Council is working together with our residents, communities, businesses, industries and other levels of government to lead a variety of strategic actions via four pathways. The Strategy focuses on the need to prioritise a healthy natural environment, transition towards net zero emissions, create a climate resilient region and build a low-carbon circular economy. Council is nearing completion of a major renewables project that will help to accelerate Council’s transition towards net zero emissions, whilst reducing reliance on the electricity grid. The installation of a 1,375 kW solar system at Council’s largest energy consuming site, Glenmore Water Treatment Plant (GWTP), is expected to reduce grid energy usage by around 2,500,000 kWh per annum and save up to 2,200 tCO2e per year. This initiative is a key action outlined in Council’s Corporate Emissions Reduction Plan and emissions reduction [...]

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 [...]

CQG Consulting: Merging scientific and cultural insights for waterway health Monitoring waterways and ecological health of the Fitzroy Basin is an important task and a key focus for the Partnership. A local team of scientists from one of FPRH founding members, CQG Consulting has been conducting water quality testing, delivering environmental monitoring programs and ecological surveys across the catchment for over 20 years. In 2019, the CQG team formed Tunuba, a company with the Darumbal People to collaboratively deliver a comprehensive approach for clients, through a merging of scientific skills underpinned by tens of thousands of years of cultural knowledge. As part of this collaboration and a two-way knowledge sharing, CQG’s scientists have been training Tunuba Rangers to undertake water quality monitoring, treat weeds and to capture and protect fauna. CQG’s Founder and Director, Patrice Brown said scientists can learn a lot about natural environments and the relationships between waters and land by working with Traditional Owners and listening to the stories told by the elders. Our scientists have an enormous respect for First Nations People and are fortunate to regularly learn [...]