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

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, groundwater, rivers and estuaries.

Through Waterwatch, 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.

Thousands of Waterwatch volunteers head out every year to sample and monitor their local waterways. Why? Here are some facts to consider:

• Victoria has approximately 85 000 kms of creeks and rivers.
• Only 21% of Victoria’s rivers are considered in good or excellent condition. [1]
• The Victorian Water Quality Monitoring Network (VWQMN) monitored water quality at 148 sites in 2002. [2]
• The Environment Protection Authority Fixed Site Network monitored water quality at 46 sites in 2002. [2]
• Melbourne Water monitored water quality at 58 sites in the Melbourne metropolitan region in 2002. [2]
• The Murray-Darling Basin Commission Water Quality Monitoring Program monitored 18 sites in Victoria in 2002. [2]  
• The Waterwatch program monitored 1454 sites in 2004, 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.

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