Merri Creek Birdies

The plants and animals in the creek have evolved to live within a certain range of temperatures. If the water becomes unusually warm or cool, many of them will die. If temperature change happens over a long period of time, the type of plants and animals living in the creek may change. If water becomes much warmer than usual, the risk of harmful nutrient overload is more likely, salinity is likely to get higher and oxygen levels lower (see below for more information).

How acidic or basic water is (pH) affects the health of aquatic plants and animals. Creek water should be fairly neutral (not overly acidic or basic). If pH levels become unusually high or low, some aquatic animals will not develop or breed normally. If water becomes very acidic it can burn the skin of fishes.

Fish living in the creek need oxygen levels to remain within a certain range to survive. Too much oxygen in the water can affect their blood flow, whereas too little oxygen in the water can kill large numbers of fish in just a few hours.

If creek water is too turbid (unclear), aquatic plants don’t receive the sunlight they need to grow.

By testing how easily electricity can pass through water, we can tell how much salt is in the water (the water’s salinity). If there is too much salt in the water, fresh-water plants and animals find it hard to survive.

Too much of the chemical phosphorus in water can lead to excessive growth of aquatic plants or algal blooms, which can choke waterways and starve them of oxygen. Some algal blooms can also be toxic to humans and other animals

Too much ammonia (a gas that easily dissolves in water) is toxic to fish and other aquatic wildlife. When ammonia is present in water at high enough levels, it is difficult for aquatic organisms to excrete it, this can lead to toxic buildup in their bodies, and potentially death.

In spring and autumn of each year, the Merri Creek Birdies also assesses the types and numbers of aquatic macroinverterbrates present in the creek. Macroinvertebrates are animals that are big enough to be seen without a microscope and don’t have a spine, such as insects, crabs, snails and worms.

The group also photographs the creek once a year and assesses its habitat value (how well it provides homes for plants and animals).

Waterwatch is a Melbourne-wide program funded by the Victorian State Government and local councils. The Darebin Waterwatch program is administered by the Merri Creek Management Committee. In Darebin, we have a Waterwatch Program Coordinator, who:

• Works with Darebin City Council to plan and run community waterway education events
• Works with Darebin City Council to promote conservation and protection of our waterways
• Raises awareness and understanding of local waterway issues
• Provides water quality monitoring training and equipment to Waterwatch volunteers
• Helps to connect all levels of government, private business and the community to care for our waterways
• Oversees Waterwatch monitoring on the Darebin, Merri and Edgars creeks

Waterwatch Community Events
A number of community events are put on by Waterwatch each year. The purpose of the events is to engage and educate the community and to recruit new volunteers. Recent events have included the Frogs on Wheels Bike Ride along Darebin Creek, the Frog Census nights at Edwardes Lake and Edgars Creek, Merri’s Magical Morning at the Merri Creek and a waterbug display at the Darebin Kite Festival at Edwardes Lake.

Training
New Waterwatch community volunteers attend free training days to learn how to use water monitoring equipment. Once trained the volunteers can join an existing Waterwatch group or form a new group.

Data Collection
Waterwatch groups meet once a month to conduct water quality testing. Data is always collected from the same sites so that monitoring results can be compared to previous results and changes and trends can be identified.

Data Sharing
Data collected by Waterwatch groups, including Merri Creek Birdies, is uploaded to the Waterwatch online portal, where it is freely available for anyone to view, download and use.

There are many different ways that you can volunteer your time, energy and enthusiasm with Waterwatch, and the program welcomes all new volunteers.

The Waterwatch program in Darebin is administered by the Merri Creek Management Committee. Volunteer recruitment and a comprehensive water quality monitoring training session is run once a year for those wishing to get involved in the program. To find more information on getting involved and when the next training session will be hosted, get in touch with the Merri Creek Waterwatch Coordinator here.

If you would like to volunteer directly with the Merri Creek Birdies, you can email their direct contact Ying Quek.

You can also visit the Waterwatch website here to contact a Waterwatch coordinator outside of Darebin.

Some of the Darebin Waterwatch and ‘Friends of’ groups have their own websites too:

• Friends of Darebin Creek
• Friends of Darebin Parklands
• Friends of Merri Creek – Stream Team

The Darebin Waterwatch program depends on financial support from Darebin City Council to enable the delivery of education and engagement activities in the catchments of the Darebin, Edgars and Merri creeks. In the year of 2016-17, Darebin City Council provided $14,645 to the Waterwatch program.

Melbourne Water also provides support for Waterwatch monitoring and training events.

Waterwatch is a community education and engagement program connecting local communities with river health and sustainable water management issues. The program aims to improve the community’s understanding, participation and ownership of local river health issues. It involves schools and the community in water testing, water bug identification and other water monitoring activities.

Darebin’s creeks provide the community with natural, green spaces in an otherwise urban area. Studies have shown that public open space in urban areas can increase levels of physical activity in the community and have mental health benefits, which can help to reduce healthcare costs (Parks Victoria, 2017). They also provide the opportunity for people to see a variety of wildlife not usually found in urban areas, some of which are threatened or endangered.

The Waterwatch program brings people together to take part in monitoring and community events. Through Waterwatch, the community is supported and encouraged to become actively involved in the conservation and protection of local waterways.

Waterwatch Aims:

• Increase community awareness and understanding of the importance of river health issues.
• Increase community participation and involvement in river health activities.
• Foster greater community engagement and ownership of local waterways.
• Involve communities in the monitoring of their local waterways.
• Establish partnerships and develop collaborative projects to conserve and protect waterway health.
• Use information gathered by local Waterwatch groups to identify solutions to improve the health of local waterways.
• Encourage local communities to become actively involved in the implementation of projects to improve the health of local waterways.

Many native animals call the creeks and lakes of Darebin home – such as platypus, rakali (native water rat), frogs, fish (such as the common galaxias) and birds (such as the sacred kingfisher). Some native animals found in our waterways are rare or endangered. Darebin waterways flow into the Yarra River and eventually into Port Phillip Bay, so the quality of water in our creeks can affect the health of wildlife far downstream and even in the ocean. Understanding, conserving and protecting our waterway environments is important for these reasons.

Waterwatch volunteers provide monthly monitoring data for five creek sites across Darebin.  This data allows us to better understand our creek environments and the conditions required for creek ecosystems (plants, animals and their habitats) to stay healthy. This knowledge helps guide us to manage our creeks and catchments sustainably.

Waterwatch monitoring also helps alert us to changes in our creeks that could have negative impacts on wildlife, such as water pollution. In the past, Waterwatch volunteers have found some areas of our creeks to be pollution ‘hot spots’ and have organised clean-ups to help improve these areas.

Darebin City Council acknowledges the Wurundjeri people as the traditional owners and custodians of this land and pays respect to their Elders past and present.