Waterwatcher Aug08 - Goulburn/Broken Waterwatch

Goulburn Broken Waterwatch presents...

The Waterwatcher August 2008

Website Wonders by Michaela

From the Editor Welcome to the 2008 winter edition of ‘The Waterwatcher’. Even though the weather has been chilly lately, we’re glad that the much needed rain has come with it. Hopefully we’ll see a lot more before summer arrives. There have been a few changes to the Goulburn Broken team this year, some more permanent than others, to find out more turn to page 3. Ancona Valley monitor Heather Ingpen tells us how the drought has affected the Brankeet Creek, see page 5 for more details. Happy Monitoring!

After attempting for years to have our Goulburn Broken Waterwatch website remodelled to allow regular updating, it has finally happened.

the site and view all of the water quality data collected at the site since the GB Waterwatch Program began.

Hayden Lewis and Andy McAllister at the Department of Primary Industries in Tatura used Google mapping technology to make all Waterwatch monitoring data available to the whole community at the click of a mouse.

A range of maps are available showing roads, the terrain and satellite images. You can also view your site in Google Earth!!

Every monitoring site can be viewed on a map of the Goulburn Broken catchment. You are able to see upstream and downstream of

Another feature of the website is a community forum. Here, you can raise concerns about testing methods, discuss local water quality issues and view discussion about upcoming events.

Check out our new website www.gbwaterwatch.org.au

Jacinta Burke

Click Here for maps & data

Inside this issue: Ins and Outs

2

Stormwater Update

2

Annual Reporting

3

Network to the Rescue

3

Drainwatch Update

4

Quality Assured

4

Brankeet Creek

5

Best Laid Plans

6

Bug of the Season

7

Water Information Stations

8

AshWatch Update

9

Up Coming Events

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Community Stream Sampling by David The Community Stream Sampling project is winding up at the end of September. This targetted project was funded for two years by the Bureau of Rural Sciences in Canberra. The objective of CSS was to gather as much community data on the levels of salinity in waterways across the catchment. Subcatchments that were considered high priority for salinity were especially targetted. One of the great outcomes of the project was the large increase in (Continued on page 9)

In’s & Out’s There have been numerous changes to the Goulburn Broken Waterwatch team in 2008. So to keep you up to date with who’s in and who’s out... Jacinta Burke (GVW) and Andrea Montgomery (Drainwatch) are both on maternity leave and have been replaced by Bruce Paton who is working full time at Goulburn Valley Water in Shepparton. Stormwater Officer Renata Cumming has also departed the team in the last couple of months to go dairy farming in Maffra. She has also spent a little time overseas with her family. Kristy Elrington has taken over this role (pictured right).

Tamara Bruce is back with the team part-time after returning from maternity leave …. there have been lots of babies arriving over the last year! Jill Breadon can still be seen around the Waterwatch office in Mansfield on the odd occasion. And Michaela Bicknell has gone off for periods during the year to complete a Diploma of Education. She is working part-time while she undertakes her course. Phillip Clancy sadly left the Program in June. He was our Community Stream Sampling Program Coordinator in the South West. Phil brought a new dimension to our Program with the excellent way he is able to “include the community”. We will introduce Ian Julian, his replacement next newsletter.

Stormwater Update By Kristy Hi everyone! For those of you that I haven’t met yet, my name is Kristy Elrington and I have recently taken over the position of Stormwater Project Officer from Renata Cumming. I enter the position fresh out of University, having a degree in Environmental Management & Ecology and am currently studying postgraduate coursework in Environmental Engineering Science. After all these years of study, I have a passion for water and the environment. I grew up in Shepparton, and spent three years in Wodonga for University and have been back in Shepparton now for one and a half years. After a couple of months in the Stormwater position, I now feel as though I have a clear understanding of what the project requires of me. Much of this understanding is due to the development of a new work plan a few weeks back. The major activities that I am currently involved with include building site audits and school education. Building sites have been recognised as one of the major stormwater polluters and will therefore be a major focus of the project. I will be working closely with the Local Laws Officers and the Building Department in Mitchell, Moira and Greater Shepparton City Council to develop a set procedure for conducting building site audits. The aim of the audits will be to educate the builders about stormwater best practices. For stormwater education, cluster days will be organised for primary school students in each shire. These will be held later on in the year, when the weather warms up. The events are known as ‘Stormwater Spectaculars’, and involve educational activities related to stormwater. I have a list of activities for the events that I will be creating soon. As there is funding is available to spend on the stormwater project, I am currently looking at a few options to put this money to good use. Ideas that have come to mind include a stormwater model that would be ideal to use for stormwater education. Another option is to use funding to hold stormwater workshops for local government, the community and builders. I’ll be sure to keep you all posted.

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Annual Reporting by Kirsten For the last six months, I have been absorbed in data, statistics, graphs and report writing! Now that the Goulburn Broken Waterwatch database is flourishing and up to date (it just needed a bit of tender loving care!) it has become a priority to try and create some reports with all of the volunteer data that you, the volunteers collect. Some of you may have already seen your reports at the July Waterwatch QAQC workshops and it is hoped that the remainder will be distributed this month. These reports are designed to show the data in a simple and meaningful way. Historical data is displayed as well as the last calendar year, in both tabular and graphical format. People who live by a waterway and see it often are more likely to have explanations for why a result is as high or low as it is, because they may be aware of an event that occurred to cause a certain result. It is for this reason that we have designed the reports to generate discussion about the results, rather than Waterwatch try and give black and white answers. As reports are being completed they are being posted on the Goulburn Broken Waterwatch Website, so if you don’t receive a hard copy at the QAQC workshops, please go to www.gbwaterwatch.org.au and look under the education and resources tab. Reports posted to date include: • Mid West Goulburn (includes Sunday, Dry, Mollisons, Kurkurac, Sugarloaf and Nanny Creeks) • Ryans and Holland Creeks • Seven Creeks • Yea River (includes Murrindindi River) • Benalla and District Environment Group • Creightons Creek • Howqua River • Hughes Creek • Kilmore Creek • King Parrot Creek • AshWatch (includes Upper Goulburn, Howqua, Delatite Rivers and Ryans and Hollands Creeks) • Ancona Landcare

Waterwatch Network to the Rescue by Dani Whilst out on my monthly monitoring water round, I decided to call it a day earlier than usual to get back home in time for a meeting. All was going to plan until the car battery failed… I was stranded on the Molyullah-Tatong Road not too concerned, for I had confidence that the Waterwatch Network would save me. A logger stopped to help ….mmmm... and left his card. Michaela and David were ringing through with local Waterwatcher’s phone numbers and I was calling them to see if they could assist. But, the people I wanted to help weren’t about. Then a fellow by the name of “Snowy” arrived to help. He was staying at a monitor’s house and happened to have his jumper leads …. so that was good!. The leads turned out to be too weak and were useless in getting me mobile again. At last, I finally found Chris Hakkeness, who turned up with a heavy duty cable that had no clamps on it. He and Snowy stripped the ends off it with Chris’ filletting knife and a pair of pliers. Snowy put the weak cables on the negative terminal and Chris put the heavy cable on the positive and the Landcare Lancer was away again. After a de-stress cuppa at McFadden’s, I headed for Benalla and purchased a new battery. Goulburn Broken Waterwatchers can multitask with the best of them!!!

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Drainwatch Update by Bruce In 2008 the Drainwatch program is going ahead in leaps and bounds in defiance of the drought, which for the past couple of years has allowed us to prove conclusively that if it doesn’t rain very much there is very little water in irrigation drains for us to monitor! This year we’re giving volunteers the opportunity to find alternative water sources to monitor, in the form of irrigation channels. These have the benefit of actually having water in them during the irrigation season, but more importantly they provide our monitors with the chance to collect some really meaningful data; By measuring the levels of turbidity, phosphorous and salinity in irrigation water before it goes onto properties and comparing this with those in the drains we can get an accurate picture of what is actually washing off the land. Having said this of course, the new data isn’t much use without knowing what is going out the drains so monitors will still be keeping an eye on these and the drain aspect of Drainwatch will remain paramount. So, where does that leave us? I’ve been travelling around the catchment seeing our volunteers and helping them select additional sites to monitor (as well as calibrating equipment and meeting other needs they may have) and I’ll be doing this until I’ve seen everyone involved in the program. We’ll also be looking to encourage new people to take part in Drainwatch, so please get the word out! As I final comment, I have to give a big thanks to all of you who give your valuable time once a month to throw a bucket into a stream, channel or irrigation drain and find out what is in the water. I never fail to be amazed at your commitment and hard work, so thank you very much and may the Waterwatch program forever continue. Bruce Paton is the new Drainwatch co-ordinator for 2008. He is filling in for Andrea Montgomery, who has shown excellent consideration by given birth in order to provide him with a maternity leave position.

Quality Assured by Tamara This years QAQC (Quality Assurance Quality Control) week consisted of two main workshops at Broadford and Violet Town. They were well attended by dedicated Waterwatch monitors and Coordinators. Each year, Waterwatch Victoria holds a QAQC week across the state with hundreds of Waterwatchers taking part. Monitors and coordinators test mystery samples to check out whether their testing techniques are valid. The program involves testing ‘mystery samples’ for salinity, turbidity, pH and ortho phosphorus. Of course, all participants make sure they calibrate their equipment first using known standards to ensure all is working properly. The results are collected and sent to the State Waterwatch office for assessment. Apart from the QAQC testing, monitors also Page 4

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received feedback on their results for 2008 in a subcatchments annual report. The workshop also provided an opportunity for monitors to meet up with other people from their area and have great discussions about the local rivers and creeks. See you next year for QAQC Week!! The new Goulburn Broken Waterwatch website was also a highlight as we now have a forum for monitors to participate in online. The new Google maps that show all the monitoring sites across the GB catchment with pictures and results also proved to create lots of discussion and great feedback, it’s a great tool to have, so check it out www.gbwaterwatch.org.au

The Flows of Brankeet Creek by Heather Ingpen Written by Ancona Valley Waterwatch monitor, Heather Ingpen.

The Brankeet Creek had never stopped flowing during the 20th century (that’s the 1900’s) according to the early settlers ….. until January 2007. The creek stopped in January, and recommenced flowing again in late March 2007. Between January and March some pools of water remained. Some of these pools were deep enough for large carp to survive. We hoped the platypus would survive – but it wasn’t sighted. If you dug down into the sandy bed of the creek while it wasn’t running, you could always ‘make’ water. It took over eight weeks for the creek to ‘run’ to the bridge at Ancona and four or more weeks to travel from Ancona to Bonnie Doon bridge. The creek travelled between 100 and 400 metres per day. In January 2008, the Brankeet Creek ceased running again. Only large pools remained – as did the carp. Around mid March, the Brankeet Creek started flowing again, travelling 100 to 400 metres a day. It had quite a good flow despite very little rain falling in the valley. However, the North and Heyfield Creeks did not start running until May. Apparently the Strathbogie’s which supply the creeks’ head waters, have received more rain. By mid July, all these creeks were flowing strongly. The Valley of Ancona is still extremely dry. The gullies are dry and there hadn’t been sufficient rain for any runoff into dams or watercourses by mid July. The Merton Creek, which is several kilometres up Shaw’s Road, is apparently just starting to trickle. The dams have not retained any water. However, the springs have risen and in several places are just about over-flowing. The springs started to make water in March – as they always do — around the equinox on March 21st. Ed. The Ancona Landcare Group have been a very active group for many years. They have returned to monitoring their creeks in the last couple of years after initially joining Waterwatch back in 1998. As with all Waterwatchers, they have not been able to monitor all sites monthly because of the drought. Their turbidity results, however, indicate that the Brankeet Creek is in poor condition for turbidity but good for salinity. E coli in Merton Creek downstream of Brankeet Creek is generally below levels recommended for primary contact.

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Best Laid Plans By Michaela "I've only worked here for 2 weeks - you've only just explained the water treatment process to me... and now I have a school visiting from Nathalia with 50 grade 3/4s?" My fears were trodden on and my inexperience shrugged off as I was left waiting for a bus of students to arrive to learn about water. From me. With a behavioural science background and a bit of administrative work experience. In HR. Yep, pretty qualified. I took the job on back in 2005 mostly because it suited my plans - it was a 7 month contract which I calculated would give me enough money to move back to Melbourne and start again after spending every dollar saved in my youth in Europe and the US. Mum and Dad's house was the cheapest option so in the short term Shepparton was where I had to be. More than three years on I am still here, my partner has moved to Shepparton from Melbourne, and we're as settled as we've ever been anywhere all because I love my job. I had never enjoyed work and here I was, learning new things every day, working with children and the community and standing up for the environment. Focussing primarily on school education, my interest in psychology gave me an understanding of how people learn. I challenged myself to come up with creative and exciting ideas that would interest children and teach them something about water. All the enthusiasm (and psych theory) in the world, however, would not make me great educator. So this year, along with working part-time, I am also studying full-time at La Trobe University, completing my Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Middle Years) by correspondence. Already half way through the course, I have learnt so much about what schools want and need in way of environmental education and support, the governmental requirements of teachers and their programs, MORE about how children learn, and how to... here's the buzz word - ENGAGE learners. It has been wonderful for me to get a new lease of life in my work, my brain is now swimming with new ideas that I really look forward to implementing. To have allowed me the flexibility to undertake this study is testament to the supportive environment that is our Waterwatch team. My 7 month fill-in job has inspired a new direction for me - I couldn't have planned it better myself.

Short Shower Mission “Drop it” was the catch cry of the week at St Georges Road Primary School for the Shorter Shower Mission pilot Michaela trialed whilst on teaching rounds earlier this year. Each of the 25 Grade 6 students from Mr Ryan’s class became the proud owner of a Goulburn Valley Water digital shower timer and took on the responsibility of recording the time it took them to have a shower each day. For seven days in a row, students took note of their time in minutes and seconds and reported to Mr Ryan each morning, who kept a record of every student’s progress. The class was updated daily with bar graphs showering, I mean showing, leaders and losers—Water Wally’s. By the end of the week the class was not only able to cut their time in the shower by at least half, but they then had a range of bar graphs, facts and figures to help them understand and examine water use in their own homes, such an important lesson in the current climate. To celebrate Water Week 2008, local school will take part in the Short Shower Mission to “drop their time” in the shower. Thanks to Goulburn Valley Water and the Water Week Committee for their support in this important mission. If your school is interested in taking part in the Water Week Short Shower Mission contact Michaela. Page 6

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Water Week Competitions If you’re an amateur Photographer or can tell a River Yarn then there’s still time to enter the Goulburn Broken Water Week Community Competitions.

Amateur Photographic Competition If you are an amateur photographer you could win up to $100. First and Second prizes will be awarded in the following categories: - Water in the everyday - Irrigation 2008 - Abstract Water Entry is free and must feature a Goulburn Broken regional waterway.

River Yarns Writing Competition A pool of $1200 in cash prizes is available to people of all ages who are wiling to share stories involving creeks and rivers of the Goulburn Broken region. Fiction and non fiction short stories or poems of swimming holes, fishing, floods and dramas, picnics and boating are welcome. Entry is free and First and Second prizes are awarded in Junior, Youth and Open categories. Both competitions close 5pm Friday 26 September 2008. For more information or an entry form contact Jacinta Burke on 0458 900 261 or email to: [email protected]

National Water Week, The future is in our hands.

Bug of the Season By Glenda Hi everyone. I am a relatively common invertebrate animal but I am not very popular with humans because I am a spider! I don’t know why this is as I don’t hurt you, though if you upset me, I can give you a bite, just because I have quite large fangs! I am in the Class Arachnida and Family Pisauridae, and am commonly known as a fishing spider, probably because of how I catch my prey. I am a robust and very fast moving hunter and at full size, have a body length of 20 mm but with the length of my eight legs, I can be up to 120 mm long. Pretty impressive don’t you think? I like to wait beside the water with several of my legs touching the water surface, so that I can detect ripples, using the water a bit like a web, so that when potential prey appears, I can pounce. Often my food comes from insects that fall into the still water from overhanging branches and grasses. I have a dense hairy body making me waterproof, so I don’t get waterlogged when I stay under water for up to an hour. However, the air bubbles in my hairs make me very light and if I lose my grip, I will shoot to the surface, breaking the surface tension. I like to hide under water to avoid the things that like to eat me, such as large birds. Next time you see one of me, I promise I won’t bite you if you leave me in peace! Page 7

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Welcome New Monitors The Acheron and Yea River Community Monitoring groups are growing! It is with pleasure that Waterwatch welcomes Rita Harris and Lorraine Gallagher, who are monitoring three sites (Leary’s Creek at Marysville, Steavenson River at Barton’s Bridge in Marysville and Sarsenstun Creek at Taggerty), all part of the Acheron River system. Jane Finlay has also recently become a monitor, looking after a new site on Limestone Creek, a part of the Yea River system. All three are property owners and are keen to become involved in learning more about their local waterways. Pictures are of Jane Finlay (left) and Rita Harris (right) testing turbidity in front of their sites (Limestone Creek and Sarsenstun Creek).

Water Information Stations By Bruce In the next couple of months residents of the Goulburn Broken catchment will witness something new and unexpected: mysterious cardboard stands covered in information and artwork about water issues will begin to materialise in shops and other public places in their local towns. What could be the cause of this strange phenomenon? Why, it’s the 2008 Water Week art project of course! Inspired by art projects of previous years, where schools have created fabulous murals, quilts and other designs, we have decided to give students the chance to harness their creative talents to educate others about water issues. The best way to reach the maximum amount of people is for the students to make informative displays that people will see during their daily lives, so in the cause of greater community education shops, libraries and other community spaces throughout our catchment have agreed to help the kids out by providing them with some space to house information displays they have put together. So what are you likely to see appearing in your local shopping centre? Believe it or not the cardboard stands the students have been using have been humble electoral polling booths. They’re just the right size, they fold up (which will be very useful as they will be collected and displayed together for the Water Week awards night) and they’re free standing to boot. That’s not the whole story though – the issues the schools are going to be telling people about are often really local, like stopping pollution from reaching their waterway, protecting endangered species or rehabilitating their local creek, so for the past few months Waterwatch staff have been travelling to each school to inform them of the issues involved and get them fired up about the project. So far there are a grand total of 45 schools signed up and more becoming involved all the time, so if you’re wandering through your town in the leadup to Water Week don’t be surprised if you come across a peculiar cardboard display stand and suddenly find yourself learning about important water issues! Page 8

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community monitors who have joined Waterwatch over the last two years. Some other CSS project statistics that you might be interested in:Total number of samples tested during the Community Stream Sampling Project — 5,675 Total number of sites monitored during project — 416 Most salty creek - Kurkurac Creek Highest Electrical Conductivity (Salinity) reading - 10,550 EC (Sea water is approx. 40,000 EC) The south west of the catchment recorded most of the salinity readings that topped 1,000 EC.

Ashwatch

By Tamara and Danielle

In December 2006, a lightening storm ignited bushfires across the Victorian high country, stretching from Woods Point to Tatong and many places in between. By late January 2007, the fires had merged and covered a total area of 1,080,088 hectares, burning the majority of the upper Goulburn Broken catchment. As a result of the bushfires, much of the vegetation surrounding local waterways was destroyed raising the potential for high loads of sediment including ash, silt and other materials to enter the rivers after rain events. As a response to the bushfires, the Goulburn Broken Waterwatch team and the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority initiated a community post-fire monitoring project known as AshWatch. AshWatch aimed to monitor physical and chemical parameters in each fire affected area over a 12 month period to measure its recovery. Biological surveys are being carried out on the macro-invertebrates (animals that live in the waterways) in the affected rivers as well. The AshWatch Program has been extended for two more years with the support of the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority.

August 2007

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Up Coming Events •

September 19 end Term 3

•

September 26 Water Week Competitions Close

•

October 6 Term 4 begins

•

October 19-26 National Water Week

•

October 22 Annual Water Week Awards Night

Regional Coordinator David Hodgkins (03) 5832 0460 OR 0418 536 269 Email: [email protected] Sub-Catchment Coordinators Upper Goulburn Catchment Tamara Bruce and Jill Breadon 0400 936 595 Email: [email protected] Mid Catchment Glenda Woods (Mon, Thurs) (03) 5797 2417 OR 0428 321 545 Email: [email protected] Monitoring to Action Kirsten Hogan (Mon, Wed, Fri) 0439 334 557 Email: [email protected]

Goulburn Broken Waterwatch Partners are:

Northern Catchment Michaela Bicknell (03) 5832 0461 OR 0400 952 700 Email: [email protected] MidWest Community Stream Sampling Philip Clancy 0428 834 162 Email: [email protected] Central Community Stream Sampling Danielle Beischer (03) 5832 1133 Email: [email protected]

This project is funded by the Australian Government through the National Action Plan for Salinity & Water Quality

Stormwater Officer Kristy Elrington (03) 5832 1133 Email: [email protected] Drainwatch/Northern Catchment Bruce Paton (03)5832 0469 OR 0400 261 956 Email: [email protected]

POSTAGE PAID SHEPPARTON 3630 PO Box 185 Shepparton 3632

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