Waterwatch organises several annual events throughout the year in order to meet environmental education objectives for students and raise general community awareness of water quality issues and the relationship to whole catchment health.

Media Releases

Race Around The Catchment
National Water Week
Murder Under the Microscope 03
Third Waterwatch Dipstick Day

Race around the catchment 2002

 
Photographic Competition 2002

The National Race Around The Catchment photo competition winners have been announced during National Water Week in October 2002. (Click on the thumbnails for larger photos).

1st Prize - 14 years and under
Adam Cooper - River Grass Flats

2nd Prize - 14 years and under
Caitlin Sly - Swan Haven

1st Prize - 15 years and over
Lillian Komzak - Eddies Of Tranquility

2nd Prize - 15 years and over
Simon Olding - Louisa River

Tasmania also announced the State winners during the National Water Week Forum "Sustaining the Flow" at the Derwent Entertainment Centre in the afternoon of 18th October, 2002.

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National Water Week

The Tasmanian Water Week Committee held a conference for National Water Week 20-26 October, 2002, titled "Water for Life".

The National Water Week Forum 2002 "Sustaining the Flow" was held on Friday 18th October at the Derwent Entertainment Centre in Hobart. The Tasmanian entries for the Race Around The Catchment photographic competition were displayed at the forum, with presentations for the State's winners during the afternoon.

If you would like to find out more about National Water Week, please go to National Water Week - Water for Life website.

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Murder Under the Microscope 03

Murder Under the Microscope is a joint initiative of the Department of Land and Water Conservation (DLWC) and the Open Training and Education Network (OTEN). It involves student detective groups investigating potential environmental “victims”, “villains” and “crime sites” over a three-week period each year via the latest technology.   

The first part of the competition culminates in teams posting an accusation on the web site following the final day’s broadcast.   The first school to correctly identify the victim, villain, crime site and issue is named the Eco Sleuth.    

The second part of the competition entails teams submitting a catchment management plan to address the problems raised by the scenario.  Catchment Plans are judged in two categories: primary and secondary. The winners in both the primary and secondary categories are named the Murder Under the Microscope Eco Planners. 

With curriculum links in the areas of Science, English, Society and the Environment and Technology; Murder Under the Microscope Provides teachers with an innovative award winning program which can enliven the learning experience in the classroom.

For more information visit the Murder Under the Microscope web site www.microscope.edu.au or alternatively, cal us on 1800 817 761 or email catchment.hq@tafensw.edu.au.

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Third Waterwatch Dipstick Day
14th May, 2003

Background 

Dipstick is a statewide annual salinity monitoring event which first took place in 2001 at approximately 100 sites. A total of 194 sites were monitored in 2002. The aim is to gather data and raise awareness of salinity in the state. The long term aim is to repeat the monitoring event each year to gather trend data for the five yearly State of Environment report for Tasmania. 

Dipstick 2003 

The Dipstick monitoring event 2003 will take place on Wednesday 14th May. Five Australian states will also conduct Waterwatch salinity monitoring in the same week. A Dipstick 2003 monitoring plan can be downloaded here (38 KB). It includes catchments that are part of the National Action Plan for Water Quality and Salinity region which extends from Flinders Island to the Coal River in southern Tasmania. The following activities are planned to raise awareness of salinity and water quality issues through Dipstick: 

• Radio and newspaper coverage

• Involvement of school students and community members

• Awards - golden, silver and bronze dipstick for best data and media performance at statewide coordinators workshop

Data will be considered from 2 angles - NAP region and 3 NRM regions. Data will be assessed from the perspective of previous Dipsticks and Tasmania Together performance indicators for salinity i.e. to first stabilise levels and then reduce levels. Quality control procedures are outlined in the Waterwatch Tasmania Data Confidence Guidelines for conductivity - page 26. These include standard equipment maintenance and additional QC checks for high data confidence level. One in ten samples will be sent through to DPIWE for checking. See the Surface Water Salinity Dipstick Monitoring Plan for further details.