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Publications
Griffith University and the Department of the Environment, Sport & Territories, 1997
ISBN 0 868 57655 7
Australia is the driest inhabited continent in the world. All water is precious. However, water pollution can threaten the health and livelihood of all Australians by damaging natural ecosystems. Water pollution is an economic, social and political problem. The relationship between water pollution and human activities is highlighted by the motto of Waterwatch Queensland: 'Every move you make is reflected in the water.' This workshop encourages participants to explore the links between water pollution and lifestyle and decision making processes.
During this workshop participants will:
A brief introduction and rationale to the workshop.
Introducing the inter-connections within a catchment and some of the causes of water pollution by observing the impact of pollution on a simulated catchment.
A mini-lecture outlines the principles of TCM. Participants work in groups to identify management strategies to enhance the sustainability of the land uses identified in the catchment story.
Participants work in pairs to 'diamond rank' the significance of different causes of water pollution based on their own experiences and knowledge of the various causes of water pollution.
Participants are introduced to the concept and operation of community-based water quality monitoring programs within Waterwatch as a response to water pollution. Waterwatch case studies are discussed as examples of school-based environmental protection projects.
Overhead Transparency Masters
OHT 1: Total Catchment Management (TCM): Overview Based on the Principles of Natural Resource Management
OHT 2: Management Strategies for Increasing Water Quality in Catchments
OHT 3: Objectives for Environmental Education
OHT 4: The Aim of the Waterwatch Program
Resources
Resource 1: A Catchment Story
Resource 2: Labels for a Catchment Story
Resource 3: Total (Integrated) Catchment Management (TCM)
Resource 4: Causes of Water Pollution
Resource 5A: Waterwatch
Resource 5B: Concern Over Catchments
Waterwatch Case Studies:
Resource 6A:.Ribbons of Blue in the Primary Curriculum
Resource 6B: Kids, Companies and Creeks
Resource 7: Contact Details for Waterwatch
Activity 2: Materials listed
Activity 4: Scissors, one envelope for each pair of participants
Alexander, J. and Eyre, D. (1993) 'Restoring Our Rivers', Habitat, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 22-31.
Australian Nature Conservation Agency (1994) Waterwatch: Communities Caring For Their Catchments. Strategy and Action Plan 1993-96, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
Beale, B. and Fray, P. (1990) The Vanishing Continent, Hodder and Stoughton, Sydney.
Commonwealth Environment Protection Agency (1992) Towards Healthier Rivers: The Ills Afflicting Our Rivers and How We Might Remedy Them, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
Commonwealth Environment Protection Agency (1993) Urban Stormwater: A Resource Too Valuable to Waste, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
Department of Primary Industries (1991) Integrated Catchment Management, Government Printer, Brisbane.
Fien, J. (1988) Education for the Australian Environment, Bicentennial Australian Studies Schools Project Bulletin 6, Curriculum Development Centre, Canberra
Fischer, T. (1994) 'Waterwise: Managing Urban Catchments', Habitat Australia, February.
Mobbs, C. (1996) 'Concern Over Catchments', Conservation Australia, No. 1, pp. 22-24, PO Box 28, North Quay, Queensland 4002.
Clarke, A. (1990) 'Total Catchment Management: An Integrated Approach' in Making the Connections: People, Communities and the Environment, Australian Community Health Association, Sydney.
Cox, M., Gibson, G. and Oliver, J. (eds.) (1993) The Outdoor Classroom, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
Gibson, B. (1990) 'Catchment Management Initiatives: A Murray Darling Perspective', Australian Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 21-26.
Hart, B. (1992) 'Ecological Conditions of Australian Rivers', Search, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 33-37.
Hart, B. (1993) 'A National Approach to River Management', Search, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 125-130.
Hobson, M. and Stadler, T. (1990) Landcare: Educating the Caretakers of Tomorrow's World. Unpublished Paper presented at the Soil and Water Conservation Association International Conference, Toowoomba.
Illert, C. (1993) 'Toxic Red Tides: The Ecological Holocaust in our Southern Oceans', Search, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 135-39.
Shaffron, M. (1993) 'A Management Strategy for Blue-Green Algae in the Murray Darling Basin', Australian Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 40-43.
Water Board Sydney (1993) Clean Waterways: A Resource for TAFE Teachers.
'Urban Stormwater Quality and Ecological Effects Upon Receiving Waters' (1990) Water Science and Technology (Special Issue) vol. 22, no. 11.
Introduce the workshop.
There are 16 land uses identified in the activity story in Resource 1. This number can be adapted to suit the size of the group (e.g. each landuse could be assigned to two people, thus providing a role for up to 32 participants. Some uses could be omitted or more than one allocated per participant if the group size is small. (Some land uses could be omitted if they are not relevant to a particular catchment).
Prepare one labelled film canister for each participant, filled with one of the following substances and quantities listed below. Photocopy Resource 2, a labels sheet, and cut and tape a label to each canister.
Place a clear jar (e.g. a punch bowl or a small fish tank) containing 4-5 litres of water centrally in the room.
Land Use Substance Quantity/Condition
Note: All substances are non-toxic. Remove solids before disposing on completion of the activity.
Give each participant a canister. Advise them not to open it now, but when their character emerges in the story they are to empty their canister into the clear bowl of water which is the 'river'.
Read Resource 1, the story, in a dramatic way, stopping at the end of each section when a character/land use is mentioned. Remind participants to come forward and empty their canisters into the 'river'.
Debrief and discussion. Questions might include:
Present a mini-lecture outlining the principal aims and objectives of the concept of TCM using Resource 3 and OHT 1 and OHT 2.
Divide participants into groups of three or four. Distribute copies of Resource 1 and OHT 2 and ask participants to read them. Ask each group to discuss how a TCM approach could be applied to each of the causes of pollution identified in the catchment story. Ask each group to identify, for each pollution cause, the most appropriate short term and long term actions based on the management strategies identified in the mini-lecture.
Photocopy Resource 4 in sufficient numbers for participants to work in pairs. Cut up the page and place each set in an envelope.
Divide the group into pairs. Hand an envelope to each pair. Explain that each pair is to decide on the 'most significant' cause of water pollution and place it at the top of a 'diamond' shape (see diagram below). They then decide on the cause which they think is the 'least significant' and place it at the bottom of the diamond shape. The second and third most significant causes should then be placed underneath the 'most significant' cause. The causes which they decide are the fourth and fifth most significant should be placed above the 'least significant' leaving the remaining three to fill up the middle line of the diamond. Do not give participants more specific criteria by which to rank the causes. It is important that each team decides for itself which is 'significant'.
1
3 3
5 5 5
4 4
2
Debrief and discussion with the whole group. Questions could include:
Present a mini-lecture using Resource 5A and Resource 5B and OHT 3 and OHT 4. Emphasise the role of community based water quality monitoring programs in reducing water pollution and the active environmental monitoring, protection and improvement component of the Waterwatch program.
Divide participants into groups of 4-5. Give each group one of the case studies in Resource 6. Ask groups to discuss their case study. Questions might include:
Advise participants they should consult with their Waterwatch State Facilitator before any Waterwatch activities are incorporated into their curriculum. Give each participant a copy of Resource 7.
Land, water, vegetation and wildlife resources are basic and interactive components of natural ecosystems. They are all affected by use.
Ecosystems change continuously in response to natural processes. Changes may be slow and imperceptible or dramatic, rapid and obvious. Management of natural resources must recognise and take into account these and the effects of human induced change.
Management and conservation of land and water resources depend upon co-operation between all land users, including individuals, local rural and urban communities and all levels of government. Such management should be co-ordinated on natural geographic units such as river catchments.
Natural characteristics of land, as influenced by climate, determine its suitability for agricultural and pastoral use.
Prime agricultural land is a scarce resource and adequate areas need to be retained for agricultural and pastoral use.
Agricultural and pastoral production and urban land use can be carried out with minimum damage to soil and water resources by the planned and co-ordinated use of appropriate land, plant and animal practices.
Fauna and flora conservation can be integrated with agricultural, pastoral, industrial and urban use.
Land and water resource management decisions must be based on the best available information, incorporating local knowledge and regionally appropriate practices.
In a democratic society, sound land and water management is best achieved through the informed and voluntary actions of individual users and managers of these resources.
A balance between economic development and conservation of land and water resources must be maintained as future social and economic lifestyles of urban and rural communities depend on the sound use of land, water and vegetation.
Technological solutions
Legislative solutions
Economic solutions
Negotiation
Education
Property planning
Revegetation
Land use controls
Wetlands
Organic gardening/farming
Education about the environment
Education in the environment
Education for the environment
Source: Waterwatch Strategy and Action Plan, 1993-1996, p.1.
To be an environmental education and awareness program that promotes water quality monitoring as a means of creating and enhancing an ownership ethic for broadscale land and water management by the Australian community.
Source: Adapted from Who Polluted the Potomac?, Alice Ferguson Foundation, Hard Bargain Farm, Accokeek, MD, USA.
Note: The title of the river in the story has been left open so that you may include the name of the local river which runs through your catchment if you wish.
This is the story of the travels of a very special river - our river - through its catchment. It begins in the higher parts of the catchment where the rain runs off the slopes and begins its long journey to the sea. In the valley below there is a power station which generates electricity for the region. It burns large quantities of coal and releases pollutant gases and particles into the atmosphere. These pollutants combine with moisture in the atmosphere to produce acids. Rainfall carries these acids back to the Earth's surface and can pollute the very source of the river. The water gathers momentum as it descends the slopes. The river continues its journey towards the sea through farming country where, recently, some crops were fertilised. Afterwards they were watered and the run-off into the river has brought with it some of the fertiliser. The neighbouring farm is a piggery. Some of the manure from the pig pens washes into a drainage pipe which then empties into the river.
On the other side of the river are grazing lands. There are very few trees remaining and in some of the lower parts of the pasture, the water table has risen because the trees are not using the water any more. This water brings the salts in the soil up to the surface making the land unusable. It also means that run-off from the land is salty and this threatens the freshwater organisms and animals in the river. A grazing herd of cattle feed on the vegetation on the banks. When heavy rain arrives the banks may collapse into the river.
The coal mine, which supplies raw mineral for the power station, pumps water out of the river to clean its equipment and flush out some of the waste. This includes various acids which all drain back into the river.
Slowly the river starts to wind its way through the outskirts of a major town. Out here there are a number of hobby farms. The houses here are not connected to a sewerage system but have their own septic tanks. Occasionally these tanks overflow and untreated sewage seeps directly into the river.There are a number of people making use of the river around the bend. Someone is fishing on the banks. Unfortunately their line gets caught around a rock and is left in the water. Other people are water-skiing. Their boat needs a service and in the meantime its engine is leaking oil directly into the river. Another group of people is enjoying a picnic at a park overlooking the river. A gust of wind blows some of their rubbish off the table and down into the water. Further downstream the river is being utilised for tourism. A charter boat is giving some people a scenic tour of the river. Drinks are for sale on board but not everyone uses the bins that are provided.The river now starts to meander through the suburban part of the town. A new subdivision is being developed. Many of the trees have been removed and when it rains, the top layer of soil is eroded and contributes to the silting up the river. Most houses in the developed parts of the town have a garden. To keep those nasty bugs away the gardeners use a range of pesticides. At the end of the day the sprinklers are turned on to water the plants. The pesticides wash off into the stormwater drains and enter the river.
People who have spent the day at work are now starting to drive home. The roads are choked with traffic. Oil drips out of many of these cars and sometimes they brake in a hurry leaving traces of rubber on the road. Every time it rains these pollutants are carried into the stormwater drains and straight into the river.
There is still some industry along the river here. It uses detergents to keep its production equipment clean. But, sometimes, the dirty water is hosed out of the factory into the gutter where it disappears into a storm water drain. Once again, however, this water flows straight into the river. If there were phosphates in the detergent then it will cause excess algae growth in the river. When this algae dies and begins to rot, it uses up oxygen which animals in the water rely on. They may suffocate as a result.
Redevelopment is occurring on the opposite river bank. Demolishers have discovered a few drums of something mysterious. They won't be able to sell these as scrap. Someone suggests emptying them into the river. Everyone agrees and the waste from the old tannery is released into the river, to the detriment of all the organisms and animals living in it. With one final bend the river finally arrives at its mouth and flows into the sea. But look at what flows out with it!
What can we do with our river? A heavy rainstorm would help. The fresh supply of river water from rain can help flush out many pollutants. Indeed, rivers can be a major way of flushing and cleaning ecosystems. However this only moves the problem to a coastal area where other ecosystems will be affected. We must reduce the amount of pollution that is entering the river.
Power Station
Herd of Cattle
Farming Country
Piggery
Grazing Land
Coal Mine
Hobby Farms
Fishing
Water Skiing
Park
Tourism
Subdivision
Gardens
Roads
Industry
Tannery
Everyone lives in a catchment. A catchment is the drainage area for a particular waterway e.g.: a river. TCM recognises that there are links between land use and water quality, and that to improve water quality governments and communities must work together to change current land use practices.
The major principles of natural resource management that underpin TCM are shown on OHT 1.
Governments, working with the community, land users and landowners, seek to find the best way of tackling local problems and implementing local solutions. Community (including schools) education is an essential component of TCM. The community must feel that they have ownership of their environment and the problems. School children, for example, can become involved in monitoring the catchment as part of their curriculum.
TCM is a holistic approach to tackling problems. A range of actions are required to make human activities in catchments more sustainable. Some of these actions are described in OHT 2.
It is essential that landowners, the community in general and governments work together, and as individuals, to support the implementation of TCM.
Source: Waterwatch Strategy and Action Plan, 1993-1996, p.1.
This mini-lecture focuses on three themes:
OHTs 3 and OHT 4 provide background information.
Action-based Environmental Education
Environmental education can be described as an interdisciplinary approach to teaching. The various approaches taken by environmental educators can broadly be described as education in, about or for the environment (OHT 3). Education for the environment is characterised by a willingness to discover the real nature of an environmental problem, and to engage in action towards improving the environment, in this case, enhanced water quality.
Community (including Schools) Based Ownership of Environmental Problems and Solutions
Programs such as Landcare have identified the voluntary actions of landowners and other members of the community as crucial to solving environmental problems. This requires communities (including schools) to understand the inter-connectedness of environmental problems, and to be willing to own and address these problems.
Waterwatch Program as a Strategy to Reduce Water Pollution
In 1992 the Federal Government announced the Waterwatch program. Waterwatch provides a national focus for existing community-based water quality monitoring programs (such as Streamwatch in New South Wales or Ribbons of Blue in Western Australia) as well as encouraging the development of new programs.
Community-based water quality monitoring programs are a response to the decline in water quality which is being experienced around Australia and which is largely due to inappropriate land use practices and/or pollutants directly entering waterways. As such, they are based upon the concept of a community caring for its local catchment.
The aim of the Waterwatch program (OHT 4) is:
To be an environmental education and awareness program that promotes water quality monitoring as a means of creating and enhancing an ownership ethic for broadscale land and water management by the Australian community.
What Do Participants Do?
Communities monitor the quality of water in their local waterways in order to gain an indication of the 'health' of the water and the surrounding natural environment. Under the Waterwatch program communities receive support from regional or catchment co-ordinators as well as state and national facilitators and steering committees.
Waterwatch Update
The network has expanded from 30 000 in 1995 to 50 000 in 1997. In 1996 the Howard Government provided 10.5 million dollars over five years for Waterwatch Australia, through the Federal Government's Natural Heritage Trust. Waterwatch funding will be delivered primarily to community groups through the Trust's one-stop-shop. Since the development of the Waterwatch Data Entry Programme, a Waterwatch Database program has been developed that enables the community to collate and analyse data and prepare reports to provide feedback to groups and catchment managers
Source: Mobbs, C. (1996) 'Concern Over Catchments', Conservation Australia, No. 1, pp. 22-24.
Over 30000 Australians of all ages are monitoring how well we are looking after catchments by measuring the quality of water in our rivers.
Working under the banner of the Waterwatch program, school and Landcare groups measure a variety of biological, physical and chemical parameters to get an idea of the health of the river - pH, temperature, phosphates, nitrates, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, E. coli, macroinvertebrates and river bank vegetation. Many groups are also monitoring other aquatic organisms such as frogs and fishes. Through these measurements people can identify land use problems in the catchment and take positive actions to rectify them.
The Waterwatch program was announced by the Prime Minister, the Hon. Mr Paul Keating, in December 1992 with the allocation of $2.9 million over three years. The program aims to provide a national focus for existing community-based water quality monitoring programs such as Streamwatch (NSW) and Ribbons of Blue (WA), and to encourage the emergence of new programs like these.
In the brief time Waterwatch has been in action, there has been excellent support and cooperation between all states involved in the program. Staff from the Streamwatch and Ribbons of Blue programs, which started in 1989, have been able to share their successes and failures with the newer programs. There has also been agreement on standard units for recording data, enabling groups across Australia to compare their results. To assist in maintaining standard units of measure, a computer software package has been developed which groups can use to record their data. Known as the Waterwatch Data Entry Program this software has around 50 fields into which groups can enter data covering biophysical, chemical and biological fields. It also includes a list of all major river basins and catchments in Australia.
Once these data have been collected over a period of time, say one to two years, groups can use it in many ways depending on their level of expertise in using computers. For example, they can produce a graph showing levels of phosphorus at one site over a twelve-month period. Another option is producing a phosphorus 'profile' of a river from its headwaters to its mouth using data collected a several sites by other groups along the river.
While initially there has been some skepticism about the accuracy of the measurements taken by community groups, more and more scientists are contacting Waterwatch groups seeking access to their data. The accuracy of the sampling is enhanced through the groups undertaking an intensive training course before they can participate in the program.
Waterwatch is not just about collecting data. One of its most important aspects if for the groups to develop strategies to improve the management of the catchment - the term 'awareness to action' is most appropriate. Based on the monitoring, the groups can translate their knowledge of water quality problems into constructive actions like tree planting, fencing areas of river banks and reducing litter and pollution levels.
Lake Forbes
For many years the NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation has been encouraging Streamwatch groups to make links with Catchment Management Committees and get involved in reclamation, but not many were finding it easy. In 1994 Rosie Rowe, the Streamwatch Coordinator said 'we won't just tell them how to move beyond testing, we'll do it with them!'
To make the process an adventure, the Streamwatch team enticed 60 students and 30 teachers from 28 Streamwatch schools to a regional conference at Lake Forbes, in central-west NSW, in September 1994, and, after showing them the lake, figuratively 'threw them in at the deep end'.
The participants were split into nine groups and challenged to compile a Lake Forbes management plan in two days. The response was not panic, but excitement. 'The hands-on involvement was great! Much better than someone telling us the problems and working from there' said one student.
On the first day, the student and teacher research teams and their six expert advisers, examined every aspect of the lake, identifying its pollution sources and then mapping its features at the courthouse; taking a lake sample and then analysing for algae at the Department of Water Resources; surveying community opinion in the main street; developing effective communication strategies at the Department of Agriculture; collating, graphing and interpreting available water quality results at the Town Hall, and a hunting for every hint of lake history at the library.
By lunch time next day, each group had presented its plan to a forum representing Forbes Shire Council, the Lachlan Catchment Management Committee, the Department of Water Resources, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), Landcare, local business, industry and the community. 'It was good to participate in an activity that wasn't hypothetical' said one teacher. 'I would like to run a similar activity in our school and you've given me some excellent material to work with' said another. 'I felt I was doing something really worthwhile' said a student.
Plans developed by the groups were highly praised by the forum spokespeople who felt that the two-day workshop was an 'outstanding success, appreciated by all those who attended; students, teachers, Streamwatch coordinators and panel members'. 'Some of the students had a four-hour drive to get back home' said conference organiser, Rosie Rowe. 'One of the teachers rang me and said the kids were still talking about it when they arrived!'
Waterwatch has a strong appeal for schools as it provides opportunities for students to carry out real life scientific research at a local level and then actually do something about it. With cross-curriculum studies an important feature of education, today, Waterwatch provides a wealth of opportunities in a range of studies such as environment, communication, science, technology, society studies and media. By focusing on the local environment, literally in peoples backyards (or in the bottom paddock!), Waterwatch helps people understand that environmental issues and conservation are something all Australians have a responsibility for without leaving it to governments or other people to solve.
If you would like more information about Waterwatch write to:
National Waterwatch Facilitator
Australian Nature Conservation Agency
GPO Box 636
Canberra ACT 2601
Source: Dimitrijevich, S. (1994) Ribbons of Blue in the Primary Curriculum, Paper to Australian Association for Environmental Education Conference, Adelaide.
Ribbons of Blue (ROB) is a programme designed to raise the community awareness of the role of water as the lifeblood of the land, and as the natural connection between different places and different communities throughout a catchment area.
Creating co-operative links between schools, local governments and the catchment community, ROB enables students over a wide area to monitor local water bodies and thereby assess the health of a total catchment. Students are encouraged to improve water quality and maintain the health of the environment.
The ROB programme requires school students to visit local waterways during specific sampling weeks, usually in June and August, to do tests and take samples for analysis. The students may test for temperature, pH, salinity and turbidity. They sample for suspended solids, chlorophyll and nutrients. All or only some of the tests may be done.
Computer Entry
The data is then entered onto an IBM compatible disc and returned to the Office of Catchment Management where all the data is collated and then mapped. The 'whole of the catchment' result is then returned to the schools, so they can see how their samples fit the whole picture.
Local Government
Local government is the backbone of local environmental management. ROB asks the local government to share the cost of a test kit with schools, and help students get the best use from it.
Community Involvement
It is the aim of the ROB project to get schools to liaise with their local government and to hopefully involve the wider community in preparation of action plans. Where possible, it is hoped that they may link up with existing rehabilitation projects in their area.
Final Forum
A final forum is held where students present their results and receive prizes for their action plans, photography, oral history and poetry competitions.
Goomalling Primary School's Involvement in ROB Background
Goomalling Primary School is a small rural school of 87 students and four full-time staff members. It is situated in the wheat belt some 130 kilometres north-east of Perth. The school has been involved with ROB since its inception in 1990, and, as a result of our findings in the monitoring of the water quality of the Mortlock River, has prepared two action plans for 1991 and 1992.
In 1990 it was decided that the Year 6/7 class would become involved in the project as part of their Science and Social Studies programmes. Originally we did not have the finances to purchase a complete kit (at a cost of around $1200) so we borrowed a kit from John Forrest Senior High School. In its early stages, many smaller schools borrowed kits from larger, generally, high schools in the metropolitan area.
Enlisting Shire Support
Early in 1991, the co-ordinator of the ROB project visited Goomalling and, along with the Year 6/7 teacher, made a submission to the local Goomalling Shire Council for them to purchase for the school, and community use, a salinity meter at the cost of approximately $360. The Shire agreed to this and testing the salinity of the local waterways became much easier. In the first period of testing we completed most of the tests but, as costs increased, our main emphasis turned to testing the water for salinity and sampling for phosphorus.
The Process
The manner in which Goomalling Primary School collected its samples and completed its water testing programme is somewhat different to many metropolitan schools. The local bus contractor supported our efforts by donating the bus and his time to drive us around the local area in order to complete our work in this project. Each testing time we travel 116 kms, collecting samples from 11 different sites around the Mortlock and its tributaries. This process takes a whole day and we do this twice a year, usually in June and August.
Groupings
I have tried many different combinations and arrangements of activities on these days from one teacher supervising 26 children, to two teachers and a bus driver, to five adults taking small groups and addressing the pupils in their specific areas of expertise.The most successful ROB monitoring day, after a lot of trial and error, was in June 1991. On this occasion I had five adults and 26 Year 6/7 students. The students were divided into five groups and they rotated through different activities throughout the day. Water testing with five students is much easier and educationally a more valuable activity than trying to manage 26 students around a bucket and one salinity meter.
Adult Help
Each of the adults had a particular area of expertise or interest. One adult supervised the water testing and sampling as well as conducting map reading exercises. Another was a member of the Men of Trees and so he took students around the site discussing the botany of the area. One person was a long time resident of the area and gave the groups an oral history account of the area and its changes both in terms of natural and man-made changes. Yet another activity was to write descriptions and poetry while surrounded by and immersed in the topic. The last activity was sketching and observed drawing.
Following a system of rotation throughout the day each student participated twice in each activity. Many subject or curriculum areas were covered just in this one excursion. Each student had a record book in which they were to complete most of the activities.
Following the success of this day I followed a similar pattern for the June 1992 testing day using different local residents with different knowledge. Both the students and the residents were keen to repeat the exercise in August because they all felt that they had gained a lot from the experience. This also contributed to extending positive community attitudes to the school, its staff and students and the environmental work that they are involved in.
Action Plan Workshops
Sometime during October the school may conduct an Action Plan Workshop for other ROB schools in the area in order to discuss results and to try to formulate an action plan for the following year. This action plan aims to identify some problems, list some goals and aims, and specify the action to be taken by the students in order to try and help some of these problem areas. It was through the presentation of our 1992 Action Plan in November 1991 that Goomalling Primary School won a 16 day study tour of Landcare sites in Victoria which we undertook in April.
Integration into the Curriculum
Many teachers both here and in Victoria are interested and concerned at the ability of ROB to be integrated into the primary school curriculum. I have made an effort to integrate our ROB work and associated activities into the total curriculum wherever possible and feasible. As a whole school we have taken on environmental education as a strategy to achieve the goals listed in our School Development Plan, and we have invested a considerable amount of time, energy and financial resources into this area. This is due, in part, to the 'snowball' effect that this participation had in extending to other areas of the curriculum.
As I have previously stated, on our testing days we actively engage in other curriculum areas. Writing, mapping skills, testing procedures, recording and observation skills in science, environmental education, botany, biology, history are all considered during the day. When we arrive back at school the theme carries on through art and craft, music and drama.
Perhaps one of the most impressive activities that was completed in 1991 was the long stitch wall hanging stitched by the Year 6/7 class. Each student was given the task of planning and drawing a scene that reminded them of ROB and what they had seen or noticed during their excursions. They then had to transfer this onto a piece of tapestry cloth and stitch the scene. Each student in the class completed a piece and it was then stitched together to make this wall hanging. It received great compliments on our Victorian trip as most people had never seen anything like it before. The children have gained a great deal of personal satisfaction from the process of completing such a group project as well as receiving accolades from a wider circle of people.
Most of the Year 7s, at some stage, have had to present a report or address a group of people other than their peers on their activities in ROB. Last year, the representatives to the Pathways Now Youth Environment conference were asked for a short report on their ROB project and action plan. Once again, this year the pupil's were asked to present information on their ROB work within Goomalling to the conference of mainly high school students and interested and concerned adults. At the action plan workshop in 1991, Goomalling was the host school and the pupils had the benefit of interacting with a number of other schools in discussing their findings and pooling together their ideas for action plans to suit their local environments. At official presentations in Perth students have won photography and poetry competitions as well as the action plan competition, and have had the opportunity to meet and talk with many important people within local and state government bodies and private enterprise
City Rural Links
City rural links form an important part of the plan of catchment management and ROB. As a result of our ROB work, John Forrest Senior High School students visited Goomalling in 1991 to plant some 1200 seedlings that they had propagated. This day was so successful that, in September of this year, the students returned for a weekend of tree-planting and country living in order to plant 2000 trees on salt affected land. This is only part of a five year plan. The students from John Forrest are most keen to repeat the billeting exercise of this year in 1993.
In August 1992 approximately 50 primary school students from Lymburner Primary School, Hillarys, visited Goomalling with 2000 seedlings to plant and were very positive and enthusiastic about their first billeting experience. The interaction of city and country children can only serve to enlighten all about the need for concern for our environment.
Conclusion
I believe that the ROB project has been a very effective tool for achieving many of the outcomes formulated by the Ministry of Education in its student outcome statements and, I feel, those goals which are desired by many teachers.
The benefits of participating in a project like this are numerous. Besides achieving a high profile in the local community, the school has also gained recognition for its environmental work in the wider community. The pupils self esteem is heightened by working in a programme that is 'owned' by the pupils themselves and one that is recognised and considered by adults. The aim of ROB is 'community awareness through action'. The Goomalling Primary School through its actions has made the Goomalling community more aware of the need for action in environmental issues and it has helped the community to formulate plans to help rectify inadequate land practices of the past.
It is hoped that the children who participate in this project will, in the future, become adults who are aware of and concerned for landcare issues and are prepared to take action.
Source: Lennox, C. and S. (1992) Kid's Companies and Creeks, Paper to Australian Association for Environmental Education Conference, Adelaide.
Introduction
During our careers as environmental educators we have noticed that there is a tendency amongst our students to feel overwhelmed by the current state of the environment. When we teach about the details of global warming, ozone depletion, toxic wastes, polluted rivers and air, the issues, impacts and thoughts about the future of our planet form a downward spiral of emotions into a sense of despair. Kids (and adults) shut down. It is all too much.
What can I do anyway? I am only one person.
In this paper we will discuss the processes and outcomes of looking for ways of approaching EE based on empowerment and action. We will discuss the work we have been doing at Freshwater High School from 1989 to 1993.
Freshwater High School: A Case Study
Freshwater High is a co-educational comprehensive secondary school on the northern beaches of Sydney. The school is situated on the banks of Greendale Creek and Curl Curl Lagoon, a waterway that has the unhappy reputation of being amongst the most polluted waterways in New South Wales. In 1989 the school formed a partnership with Warringah Council with the aim of cleaning up this waterway. In our naive early days we thought that five years was a reasonable time scale to achieve this task within.
During November 1989 there was a serious pollution incident (probably a paint spill) that caused the length of the creek to turn blue and killed thousands of fish in the lagoon system. We were outraged by this event, and even more outraged at Council efforts to explain this fish kill as a 'natural event', probably due to a change in the BOD.
Through the process of strategic questioning (see Workshop 1) students came up with four strategies for action:
Water Quality Monitoring: to gather baseline data and provide ongoing surveillance of water quality. We began monitoring water quality on a weekly basis, and in 1990 worked alongside the Sydney Water Board to establish the Streamwatch Program.
Public Awareness Raising: through the production of video and media. The Fresh Water video is a result of this strategy. A small group of interested students met with us after school to prepare the script for the video (a process that took nearly 10 months). The Water Board provided a professional crew for us to work with to produce 'Fresh Water', which has since gone on to win a number of awards including a Media Peace Award and ATOM Award.
Survey of Industrial Area: to investigate where pollutants could be coming from, and to raise awareness in the industrial area. Students surveyed 150 industries.
Bush Regeneration: to identify the weeds along the creek, and improve the environment around the creek. Thirty (30) species of bush invaders were identified and a herbarium prepared as a resource for the school library. Bush regeneration ideas were put on hold until rehabilitation work on the creek banks was completed by Council.
Freshwater High were winners of the 1991 World Environment Day Youth Award.
Actions Continue
In late 1992 Freshwater High School was designated as a Centre of Excellence in Environmental Education by the New South Wales Department of Education.
The water monitoring program has continued as part of the Year 9 science program and as an activity of an after school group known as WAGS - Water Action Group (Streamwatch). This group began as a continuation of the work started by 'the video crew' and has involved students from Freshwater and Mackellar Girls High.
In November 1992 the group participated in a whole catchment study day initiated as a trial of Geographical Information Systems by the Water Board. The first study day involved testing of 24 sites in the Curl Curl and Manly Lagoon Catchments by six teams of students (from Freshwater, Mackellar and Stella Maris College) and professionals from the Water Board. The results were then entered on a GIS and used to assess the water quality of the whole catchments. The data obtained in this exercise indicated water quality problems throughout the catchment, with sewage, industrial effluent and urban runoff being identified as the sources. In 1993 the water quality data showed a continuing decline, with faecal coliform readings in the range of 50,000 to 1 million + colonies/100 ml. The students began to feel a sense of rage that this situation was continuing, and at a meeting with the Curl Curl Lagoon Committee we decided to hold a day of protest. The strategy we worked out was to form a human chain around the lagoon, with participants waving red flags to warn about the danger of the water.
On World Environment Day 1993, over 2000 school students from local schools joined hands to form a human chain around the lagoon. The event, thanks to Telecom, was linked by telephone to a simultaneous event along the banks of the Ganges River in Varanasi. (We had been supporting the work of the Swatcha Ganga - Clean Ganges Campaign since 1992.) There were also hands on activities for local primary school students and a poster exhibition put together with support from the Water Board of 500 posters by local schools on the theme 'Our Lagoon, Our Future'.
In September we spent a day evaluating our campaign so far and planning where to go next. The students decided that the industrial area should be the focus for some activities and came up with the ideal of holding a WIF Day - Waste Information Forum at the school.
Over 500 industries were invited to come to the school for a lunchtime forum, with guest speakers from Blackmores and Wattyl Paints who talked about the changes in practice they had brought about in the management of production in such a way as to minimise waste and prevent waste from entering the local waterways. There were also displays from various waste agencies and companies who supply waste treatment equipment. Although only 80 people attended the forum, it was a great success and a good beginning in linking with industry.
Early in 1994 we were approached by Blackmores to help organise a similar event for the Balgowlah Industrial area (Manly Lagoon Catchment). We joined Manly Environment Centre, Streamwatch, Blackmores and local schools to organise Kid's, Companies and Creeks, a waste information forum for the Balgowlah Industrial Areas. On 8 August the event, hosted by Blackmores, brought together about 400 people to hear from Kids (local school children), Companies (Marcus Blackmore) and Creeks (spoken for by local school children), with Angry Anderson as guest speaker. Students from nine high schools conducted strategic testing of the catchment, around suspected 'hot spots'.
This event highlighted a number of changes in our catchments. All the local, state and federal politicians were there, as were many industry managers. There was a lot of interest from the community. In the week leading up to the event, Chris Hartcher (State Minister for the Environment) had even been down to Curl Curl lagoon and said on the front page of the local paper 'It Stinks', something we had been trying to get the community to realise for the past five years! It seems that the environment is now on the political agenda, at least in our local area. We would like to think that our efforts have had a small part to play in this change, but still the pollution goes on.
Conclusion
'The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience.' (1992)The power of a lot of our work is demonstrated by these words from Gandhi. When young students stood before politicians and industrialists and spoke from their hearts about their concerns for the environment, something changed.
If you would like to start a Waterwatch project you should first contact your State Facilitator listed below.
Australian Nature Conservation Agency GPO Box 636 Canberra ACT 2601 Phone: (06) 250 0341 Fax: (06) 250 02 86
Dept. of Environment and Land Planning PO Box 1119 Tuggeranong ACT 2901 Phone: (06) 207 2238 Fax: (06) 207 2244
Streamwatch Sydney Water Board PO Box A53 Sydney South NSW 2001 Phone: (02) 269 5353 Fax: (02) 269 5543
Power and Water Authority GPO Box 1096 Darwin NT 0801 Phone: (089) 827 235 Fax: (089) 826 410
Dept. of Primary Industries Meiers Road Indooroopilly Qld 4068 Phone: (07) 3877 9332 Fax: (07) 3371 8528
Dept. of Environment & Natural Resources Water Resources Group GPO Box 1047 Adelaide SA 5001 Phone: (08) 226 2485 Fax: (08) 226 2161
Curriculum Services Dept. of Educati on and the Arts 71 Letitia Street North Hobart Tas 7000 Phone: (003) 365 254 Fax: (003) 365 365
Division of Water Resources Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources 35 Spring Street Melbourne Vic 3000 Phone: (03) 412 4663 Fax: (03) 412 4388
Waterways Commission of WA 216 St. Georges Terrace Perth WA 6000 Phone: (09) 327 9739 Fax: (09) 327 9770
