Science program aims to protect waterways

SCHOOLS and youth groups within the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority area, or CCMA, are being invited to apply for a citizen-science program.

The River Detectives program aims to connect young people to waterways through taking part in activities such as water-quality testing, macroinvertebrate sampling and habitat surveys.

Students will learn how to care for waterways and keep them in good health.

Last year, Timboon P-12 school was one of 20 to take part in the program and their monitoring site was the Curdies River at the Trestle Bridge.

Debbie Dalziel from the Curdies Valley Landcare Group and the CCMA’s river detectives coordinator Deirdre Murphy taught students how to support the health of the area.

Ms Murphy encouraged the community to take up this opportunity and apply for the program.

“Students learnt a lot about the causes and impacts of water quality changes and how land use upstream can affect water quality all the way down to the estuary,” she said.

“River detectives is an engaging, citizen-science, sustainability program that will help students to value waterways as the life-blood of the land, a very important value in these times of environmental change.”

The program is free and schools are provided with equipment, training and resources.

“As more teachers access the training and resources on offer from river detectives in coming years, and as students move through year levels engaging with the river in different ways, we expect the interest and enthusiasm for the Curdies River, its catchment, and estuary will flow strongly through the district,” said Timboon agriculture project coordinator Andrea Vallance.

Applications for the program close Wednesday 14 February and can be made on the River Detectives’ website.

The CCMA service area includes the Moorabool, Barwon, and Lake Corangamite catchment basins.