Waterwatch Victoria is a successful community engagement program connecting local communities with river health and sustainable water issues and management.

Waterwatch is about the faces and actions of thousands of Victorians who volunteer countless hours monitoring, planting, communicating and caring for their local creeks, wetlands, and rivers.

Through Waterwatch Victoria, individuals and groups are supported and encouraged to become actively involved in local waterway monitoring and on-ground action. A network of Waterwatch Coordinators supports local communities across Victoria.

River, stream and creek water quality information collected by Waterwatch volunteers over the past 19 years is now available to the public following the launch of the new online Waterwatch Victoria Data Management System.

Over 1500 Waterwatch volunteers head out every year to sample and monitor their local waterways. More than 580 Sites are monitored monthly across Victoria.

Why? Here are some facts to consider:

• Victoria has approximately 85 000 kms of creeks and rivers.
• Only 21% of Victoria’s major rivers are considered in overall good or excellent condition. [1]
• The Victorian Water Quality Monitoring Network (VWQMN) monitors water quality at approximately 700 sites.
• Through the Yarra Watch program, Melbourne Water collects weekly E.coli samples at 14 sites from the Docklands to the upper reaches of the river at Millgrove near Warburton.
  
• The Waterwatch program monitored 1521 sites in 2011, most monitored seasonally or more frequently. This spatial coverage value-adds to other monitoring programs such as the VWQMN, and fills local monitoring gaps.

With drought and climate change creating an increased need for information about the health and responses of waterways to changing conditions and management approaches, the monitoring skills of Waterwatch volunteers and the data they can collect will be increasingly valuable in the future.

Find out about more about EstuaryWatch.

For more information about the work of Waterwatch Victoria, or to get involved in monitoring your local waterway, visit the Waterwatch Victoria website.