Stories From: Water

Every Autumn Blue Mountains City Council conducts water monitoring on more than 70 creeks, adding to 25 years of data. A new group of ‘Aquatic Scientists’ has joined the ranks of the professionals. Glenbrook Public School Year 6 students have been armed with the tools and knowledge to help look after the health of our waterways.

Hamish Dunlop talks with Joe and Merylese Mercieca about the journey from a ‘fibromajestic’ home to their newly completed Passivhaus, and how sustainable design and building methods can support human health and the health of the planet.

Southeast Asian rice paddies are one of the inspirations behind a stormwater treatment initiative at Glenbrook, designed to protect Knapsack Creek and ultimately, the Hawkesbury Nepean River.

Having been declared a natural disaster area five times in just four years, Blue Mountains City Council is reaching out to all sectors of the community to join in creating a Community Net Zero Strategy and Action Plan.

A deep passion for turtles can take you to some interesting places – waist deep in mud one day and onto a movie set the next. Shane Davies leads Turtle Rescues NSW, saving thousands of Australian native freshwater turtles from certain death each year.

Shane Grundy at Bush Doctor HQ explains how soft engineering techniques are helping rejuvenate swamps and improve water quality in the Blue Mountains.

In April the Maldhan Ngurr Ngurra Lithgow Transformation Hub launched its first citizen science activity for 2023: the Lake Pillans BioBlitz. I spoke with Alice Blackwood, ecologist and Field Technician at Western Sydney University about citizen science and their findings at Lake Pillans.

Planetary Health Initiative writer Hamish Dunlop talks to Amy St Lawrence from Blue Mountains City Council’s Healthy Waterways Team. Amy explains what she’s doing at her home to collect and use water. She also talks about how her rain garden reduces run-off during and after rainfall.

Keith Brister is on a mission. He and his fellow Bushcare volunteers spent years “achieving the impossible”, protecting Blackheath’s stunning natural bushland, only to see the weeds return when COVID restrictions limited Bushcare. But Keith did not despair. Instead, he asked what else could be done, and set about doing it.

Twenty years ago the hanging swamps of North Lawson were being churned up by 4WDs and motorbikes. The passion of local residents saved them - discover their story here.