Spring and summer water quality monitoring underway

After some delays, due to Covid-19 and the wet weather, water quality monitoring for spring/summer 2021 is underway.

The monitoring started in the upper catchment of the Georges River. We have been sampling in the Fairfield and Canterbury-Bankstown Local Governement Areas.

At Cabramatta Creek locals warned us about "Fred", the red bellied black snake that lives on the bank but it was the eel slithering past Marion that made her yelp! 

Unfortunately, in addition to lots of rubbish polluting the waterways, we have come across a lot of illegal dumping, including industrial waste, engines, a motorbike, a fire extinguisher and ubiquitous trolleys.

Despite the rubbish, we have been seeing lots of bugs, elvers (baby eels) and the occasional frog.

Our new intern, Hossein, has been collecting flow data at each site. Flow data is important to accurately explain the concentration of the bugs, the chemistry and the stormwater pollution.

We also visited and took samples from Dharawal National Park and had volunteers from Oatley Flora & Fauna Conservation Society join us for some bug collection at Dairy Creek and Myles Dunphy Reserve Creek.