Sustainability Report 2006/07Working with the community
Community participation in our Waterwatch water monitoring program increased significantly this year. Waterwatch involves local people and schools in monitoring activities associated with river health, and reinforces community connections with local waterways.
A new group, Werribee Plains Waterwatch, was launched during the year, and a total of 53,445 people participated in the program in 2007 (over 13,000 more than last year). Some 2097 Waterwatch activities were conducted, and 412 sites (almost 100 more than last year) were monitored for water quality.
The popular Melbourne Water Frog Census community education program is being revamped to take advantage of new digital recording technologies commonly available in mobile phone and some digital cameras. It is expected to be relaunched in spring/summer 2008/09.
Monitoring and protecting platypus populations in our waterways continued through our survey partnership with the Australian Platypus Conservancy. This year four platypus including a juvenile female were found during a survey of Cardinia Creek, which indicates the creek is developing a self-sustaining population. No platypus had been found in the creek since the Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1982/83.
Melbourne Water is conducting two major community surveys to determine community perceptions of waterways, and to discover levels of awareness of current water issues.