Students turn ‘river detectives’ for waterways health

Member for Macedon Mary-Anne Thomas joined eager students from Malmsbury Primary School to announce the expansion of Victoria’s first online waterway education tool.

The River Detectives program began at the North Central Catchment Management Authority (CMA) in 2015 and brings the State Government’s successful Waterwatch Program into the classroom via an interactive website. Ms Thomas said, "It’s wonderful to see the students of Malmsbury Primary School so keenly engaged in this program and embracing their role as citizen scientists and custodians of our local waterway. The Andrews Government is committed to promoting the health of our local waterways and this fantastic program is helping us achieve this whilst giving students powerful hands-on learning".

It has also been adopted by scouts and community groups to include them in monitoring their local waterways and the impacts of climate change, stormwater runoff and river regulation.

The program will now be extended and trialled in three more CMA regions – Wimmera, North East and Corangamite. Melbourne Water is also trialling the program with 12 targeted schools. So far, almost 100 schools have registered to be part of the program, with up to 5000 students expected to become River Detectives this year.

The program includes providing schools with a kit, an interactive portal to record their data (citizen science), resources to support the delivery of activities and professional learning sessions for teachers to develop their skills.

It allows students from across the state to test habitat, water quality and macroinvertebrate information from local waterways and record their data via the website.

River Detectives directly aligns with the Victorian Government’s Water for Victoria plan as it nurtures community partnerships and promotes citizen science initiatives that address local waterway priorities. The program is funded by the Victorian Government as part of a $222 million investment over the next four years to improve catchment and waterway health.

Quotes attributable to North Central CMA Chief Executive Officer Brad Drust
"River Detectives is such a valuable program that allows schools across the state to head to their local waterway, engage with their local environment and learn skills in testing water quality which they report through an interactive portal."