The Barwon Heads community have expressed an interest in establishing a public health driven, water quality monitoring program for the Barwon River estuary. The Barwon Estuary Monitoring Project Stage 2 follows on from a pilot program delivered in 2018/19 (BEMPP) whereby volunteers were engaged as citizen scientists to trial the monitoring of recreational water quality indicators, whilst keeping the community informed about public health impacts. The Barwon Estuary Monitoring Project Stage 2 aims to expand on this program, with the support of EPA (Victoria), The City of Greater Geelong, Barwon Water, Barwon Coast COM, Barwon Heads Association, and others. The community will collect data on the quality of water in the estuary, in the proximity of water outfalls and areas of high recreational use.
A variety of parameters will be regularly measured including enterococci levels, ammonia and general observations of the appearance and odour of the water. The second phase of this project will increase overall understanding by targeting peak rainfall events as well as typical conditions.
The Barwon Estuary Monitoring Pilot Project is delivered in partnership with the community by Corangamite Catchment Management Authority.
Learn more about our upcoming BEMP2 Beach Study 2021 at Barwon Estuary on June 26 2021.
Photo: Jetty at At The Heads, Barwon Heads
