Wimmera Community Waterwatch (WCW) started in 1995. Its main purpose is to monitor water quality and provide environmental education to community groups and schools across the catchment. It also aims to increase community awareness, understanding, and ownership of local water quality and catchment issues. This is achieved by providing a broad range of activities that encourage schools and the community to become actively involved in monitoring the health of the Wimmera’s rivers, creeks, wetlands, dams, channels, and bores.

 Waterwatch Learning

You can find out more about Waterwatch at the Waterwatch Victoria website

Water Quality

Wimmera CMA works with a team of local monitors including landholders, farmers, Landcare networks, school and tertiary students, community groups, and individuals. Monitors are provided with training, equipment, and support to collect water quality data. The type of information that monitors collect includes water monitoring; sampling aquatic macro invertebrates and frogs; habitat surveys, and testing water quality by measuring salinity, pH, temperature, hardness, phosphorus, and turbidity.

This important information provides people and organisations with a current and historical position of the region’s water quality.

Resources

Waterwatch trailer

The Wimmera Community Waterwatch trailer was developed in partnership with the Wimmera Mail-Times and local councils. It was designed to provide a ‘hands on,’ public and interactive presence for Waterwatch. The trailer is available to travel around the region to help inform and educate school groups, landholders, farmers, Landcare, and the public about water health issues.

The trailer has an external power generator, which enables videos to be shown outdoors and microscopes to be used.

Other resources

The ‘Fresh & Salty' salinity resource includes a short animated film and resources for classroom-based activities. 'Fresh & Salty' takes a fresh and innovative approach to teaching students about salinity. 

'Fresh & Salty' videos

These are excellent educational tools for both school level and adult audiences. If your school or community group would like to know more contact Wimmera CMA.