08-Dec-2011

SEQ Catchments held its bi-annual water quality monitoring training session for community groups earlier this week, and were proud to announce that they have now successfully trained over 400 participants since the program started in 2004.

The Certificate III training course in water quality monitoring is aimed at water quality monitoring volunteers, who do an invaluable job at collecting data from their local creeks and rivers. Joadie Hardy manages the Water Quality Team at SEQ Catchments, who help coordinate the collection of water quality data throughout the region.

‘‘We provide training to all volunteers twice a year in order to equip volunteers with the necessary skills and knowledge, and standardise practices for collection of water quality data,’’ she said.

‘‘This way we can be confident that we are collecting good quality data. This type of community data can give us a good indication over the health of our catchments.’’

All of the data gets fed back to SEQ Catchments, who distribute it to the Bureau of Meterology for further analysis.

Jacqui Smythe from Maroochy Waterwatch attended the training session and overseas a group of approximately 65 volunteers.

‘‘We have a great team of volunteers who collect water quality data over the whole of the Maroochy Catchment. The average length of service for a volunteer is 7 years and some have been with us for as long as 15 years.’’

‘‘Having volunteers who monitor water quality data within their own catchments is extremely important as it gives them a sense of ownership over their rivers and waterways and raises awareness on why we should be looking after them,’’ she said.

‘‘This training provided by SEQ Catchments ensures that our volunteers can collect the best quality data possible.’’

Keep a look out for our next training session on our events calendar.