Water Quality Monitoring
History
In 2013 Cooloola Coastcare Association was awarded $62,785 (Queensland Government Everyone's Environment Grants 2013) to commence a water quality monitoring program on the Cooloola Coast wetlands and waterways (Tin Can Bay, Cooloola Cove and Rainbow Beach).
This project continues with volunteers collecting water quality data 6 times a year at 21 sites including creeks, lagoons, and drains. Initially the original project collected data over three years to establish baseline data for local waterways. Today the monitoring provides data to inform policy and decision making.
Cooloola Coast Water Quality Monitoring Project commenced on World Wetlands Day 2014 with public meetings being held at Rainbow Beach (3/2/14) and Tin Can Bay (4/2/14). The participants at the meetings discussed a Water Quality Monitoring Project Plan, determining which sites are of most interest and the reasons for these determinations.
A result of the 2 meetings was a draft plan for further consultation during March, while a state of the art Horiba U52 Water Tester and calibration kit was purchased.
MRCCC's Steve Burgess presented a Water Quality Workshop on 22/04/14 at Cooloola Cove Hall to 23 participants (7 apologies) from the 3 coastal towns of Rainbow Beach, Cooloola Cove and Tin Can Bay. These 30 people ready to be involved in the monitoring program meant the project was off to a great start!
Monitoring commenced in May 2014 with the final GPS locations & site assessments completed.
Grants continue to support the WaterWatch project.
Data Sets
The data sets are also available on request.
Get involved!
If you wish to become involved in any capacity from field work to data collation and checking, to media promotion, we'd love to hear from you!
Phone or text message 0478 039 322