Moranbah resources industry shows support for river health
Posted on October 26th, 2015
Just in time for National Water Week 18-25 October 2015, the Moranbah resources community came together on Wednesday 14 October to focus on river health as part of a River Health Roadshow staged by Fitzroy Partnership for River Health, a collective of resources, industry, agriculture, government, research and community partners.
Working to provide a more complete picture of river health in the Fitzroy Basin, the Partnership hosted a breakfast session focusing on water management initiatives by industry and held a water monitoring activity at Grosvenor Creek to showcase the community monitoring portal offered to assist the community to become more actively involved with waterway health.
Involving major partners Anglo American, Peabody Energy, BMA and the Queensland Government, the breakfast event offered an information sharing opportunity to foster best-practice water management by industry, while the waterway testing demonstration at Grosvenor Creek allowed Partners to see the community monitoring portal at http://riverhealth.org.au/report_card/community/ in action.
Nathan Johnston, Fitzroy Partnership for River Health Executive Offficer, said the River Health Roadshow included events in Moranbah, Tieri, Emerald, Injune and Theodore to bring greater awareness to regional communities on the work being done in waterway health and the state of the rivers and creeks in the Fitzroy Basin.
“The 2013-14 Report Card released in June was the fourth in our series of Report Cards grading the health of our catchments, with a B-grade received for the Lower Isaac and a C-grade for the Upper Isaac catchment for ecosystem health for this reporting year,” Mr Johnston said.
“For the first time this year, the Partnership also released grades for water for agricultural use, with the Upper and Lower Isaac Catchments receiving A-grades for water quality for Stock and Cropping Use when compared to Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality,” he said.
“Drought conditions, below average rainfall and reduced river flows influenced the results for many catchments this year.”
Attending the community monitoring activity at Grosvenor Creek was a small team from Arrow Energy, including Senior Community Officer Leah Fay.
“At Arrow, we’re committed to supporting projects that deliver strong environmental outcomes for the communities where we operate, and we’re proud to be involved with the Fitzroy Partnership for River Health,” Ms Fay said.
“As active members of the Moranbah community, it’s important for us to have a complete understanding of river health so we can help monitor, improve and protect it,” she said.
“We want to acknowledge the ongoing support of our Major Partners and Partners and highlight that these organisations have committed funds and energy to providing a more complete picture of water quality and aquatic ecosystem health in the Fitzroy Basin in what is currently tough economic times for many,” Mr Johnston said.
Central Queenslanders can access the latest information on reporting products from the website www.riverhealth.org.au – the new Agricultural Use Reporting Summary and Aquatic Ecosystem Health of local rivers and the estuary.
The Fitzroy Partnership for River Health, formed in 2012, includes organisations from government, agriculture, resources, industry, research and community and continues its aim of providing a more complete picture of river health in the Fitzroy Basin.
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