What is World Water Monitoring Day?

Everyone knows that water is an absolute essential for life*.

In this country, by far the majority of us are able to access clean, fresh water whenever we need, simply by turning on a tap.  But that is most certainly not the case for the majority of people on earth.  In 2003, the Clean Water Foundation in America established the first World Water Monitoring Day.

Water Monitoring Day was established to encourage and educate people on how to monitor the components of the water in their local area. Water pollution is a serious problem, and learning how to identify, take care of, and prevent it is more important with every passing year.

Associated with World Water Monitoring Day is the World Water Monitoring Challenge (now called the EarthEcho Water Challenge). The Challenge encourages people across the world to:

1. Test their water to find out the state of the water quality in your home or area
2. Share the data, photos and stories in an online, worldwide database
3. Protect your local water supplies, now that you know the state of your water supply, and how it compares with others around the world.

For 20 years, 4T has been doing our bit – testing and monitoring the surface water and groundwater of Queensland. Consequently, we’ve built up a pretty good database of water quality and its changes over time.  Other organisations, such as the Fitzroy Basin Association, have also contributed immensely to our knowledge of the water ecosystems in Central Queensland.

What can you do to help?

On World Water Monitoring Day, stop for a moment and consider what small things you could do in your everyday life to help protect our water.  It is so easy for those of us in developed economies to take it for granted, but we need to remember – always – that water is a finite resource.

Here’s some ideas to get you started.

If you’ve got some ideas to share, post your photos and stories on social media using @MonitorWater #MonitorWater.

*Water has been detected on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, and to avoid the possibility of contaminating any potential life, the spacecraft Cassini was directed into Saturn’s atmosphere to burn up.

Groundwater is one of Australia’s most precious, but least understood, natural resources.  21% of the water used in Australia is Groundwater, so it forms a vitally important element of Australia’s economic prosperity.

The biggest use of Australia’s groundwater is for agricultural production, so it’s not just the quantity of water available that matters to our agribusiness sector – it’s the quality as well.

To help landholders to understand this valuable asset, 4T Consultants has developed a “Getting to Know Your Groundwater” Workshop.  The workshop was originally developed by Fiona Murchie as part of her participation in the National Rural Women’s Coalition E-Leaders program.  It has undergone an update and we are very pleased to be presenting the workshop throughout Central Queensland in early 2016 in conjunction with the Fitzroy Basin Association,  the Dawson Catchment Coordination Association and Capricornia Catchments.  Groundwater experts will be joining the workshop via Skype, so participants will have the opportunity to ask questions.

For the first two workshops, we will be joining forces with AgForce as well, for a full day of groundwater training and information. AgForce will be presenting an Adanced CSG Negotiation Workshop, to bring workshop attendees up to date with the latest developments in groundwater regulation in Queensland.

The dates for the workshops that have been confirmed so far for the first half of 2016 are:

• March 1st     Taroom  (Joint workshop with AgForce)
• March 2nd   Injune    (Joint workshop with AgForce)
• March 8th    Middlemount
• March 10th  Rockhampton

More workshops are planned for other centres, but the dates have not yet been confirmed, so we will post updates as they become available.

For booking details for the Taroom and Injune , download the brochure here.

These workshops are supported by the Fitzroy Basin Association through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Programme – Sustainable Agriculture.