World Water Monitoring Day
World Water Monitoring Day is on September 18 each year and encourages people everywhere to test the quality of their waterways, share their findings, and protect our most precious resource.
World Water Monitoring Challenge™ (WWMC) is an international education and outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by engaging citizens to conduct basic monitoring of their local water bodies.
In 2012, approximately 250,000 visits were made by participants to monitoring sites in 66 countries
For more information visit the WWMC website www.worldwatermonitoringday.org
The Australian Museum has education resources for schools and the community to help investigate and learn about water quality and freshwater biodiversity including:
These resources include collecting and testing equipment to help you monitor the health of your local water ways.
If you are based in Sydney you might want to join your local Streamwatch group.
Another useful resource is the Streamwatch Waterbug Guide. This guide will help you identify the macro invertebrates found in your local freshwater environments.
Streamwatch Waterbug Guide
Waterbugs are an integral part of functioning ecosystems being part of nutrient processing and energy cascades. Waterbugs can be used to identify the existence of a disturbance but they cannot identify the cause or source of the problem. By integrating macro invertebrate sampling with water quality testing we can create a better approach to water monitoring.
Start exploring your local waterways today!
