Bellingen Riverwatch

Engaging communities to protect rivers

Bellingen Riverwatch is the largest water quality monitoring citizen science program in NSW and the largest macroinvertebrate monitoring citizen science program in Australia. Our volunteers have collected the largest citizen science water quality monitoring dataset in NSW.

Macro Muster 6

May 23rd 2024

(World Turtle Day)

Our Purpose

Citizen scientists and the scientific community working together to collect long term data, undertake river restoration activities and communicate information to support the protection of our rivers and ecosystems for future generations.

Why rivers?

Water is the source of all life. Everything depends upon water. Nothing can survive without it.

Why these rivers?

These rivers of the Bellinger and Kalang catchments are unique and some of the healthiest in Australia. Rivers like this just don’t exist everywhere. We want to keep these rivers this healthy. Forever. To do this, all residents and tourists need to work together to protect what we have.

Why now?

Bellingen Riverwatch data supports the recovery of the critically endangered Bellinger River Snapping turtle and informs catchment management decisions to help protect these important river systems for generations to come.

How can you help the rivers?

Research has shown that word of mouth can have a significant impact of people’s behaviour. People are more likely to believe and act on the advice of someone they know and trust, rather than on advertising and marketing.

A key part of what Bellingen Riverwatch does, is to help get the key messages out there into our community about the 10 ways we can all help protect these rivers.

Our programs connect people with the river and the lifeforms it supports. Our our Macro Musters, we come together, do meaningful science together, learn about and celebrate our rivers! There were over 100 people involved in our last muster who all connected with the waterbugs of the river and learnt about the 10 ways, with many participants from the next generation. We are excited about the impact of this event now, and as it grows, in terms of environmental education and behaviour change.

What We Do

  • Water Quality Program

    Our volunteers have collected the largest water quality data set in NSW.

  • Macro Program

    The largest macroinvertebrate monitoring citizen science program in Australia.

  • Riverbank Program

    Weeding, planting trees and maintaining plantings along riverbanks at key sites.

Our Sites

Our volunteers monitor 25 sites for water quality monthly.

Our volunteers monitor 6 sites for macroinvertebrates biannually.

What our 5-year data report data tells us

The Bellinger and Kalang rivers are unique and some of the healthiest and most pristine rivers in Australia.

  • “The overall condition of rivers across NSW is moderate.”

    - NSW SOE, 2021

    Unlike the state average, Bellingen Riverwatch data (2017-2022) shows that the rivers of the Bellinger catchment and Kalang catchment are in very good health.

    • Our water quality data catchment scores are 90% (Bellinger catchment) and 94% (Kalang catchment).

    • Our Pesticides Detectives data tells us that no pesticides were detected in any of the seven Bellingen Riverwatch sites that were tested.

    • Our macro data tells us that the sites we sampled have relatively healthy to very healthy macroinvertebrate communities. Results show a high abundance of known sensitive macroinvertebrate taxa collected at both Waterbug Blitz events which suggests that the instream habitat and water quality at these sites has been consistently good to very good.

    • Our Platypus eDNA data tells us that this region is a stronghold for the platypus.

  • There are four main areas of concern that the Steering Committee would like

    to highlight in Bellingen Riverwatch data (2017-2022) :

    1. Upper Bellinger River (B1, B2, B2.1, B3, B3.1)

    2. B5.1 Summervilles Road

    3. B7.1 Caratti Creek

    4. S1 Spicketts Creek

    __

    1. Upper Bellinger RIver

    In the upper Bellinger River sites (B1, B2, B2.1, B3, B3.1), water quality across the parameters is generally excellent. One anomaly we have found is around elevated available phosphate levels at B2.1, which is also influencing B2. Our partners have been intrigued by these results for many years. As the area is currently forested, past agriculture practices and/or poorly managed onsite management systems could be a likely cause of these poorer results, as could the underlying geological conditions of this area which may have a higher phosphorus content affecting the stream.

    These phosphate levels seem to also be affecting dissolved oxygen too. Often if nutrient like phosphate is found in the water, some oxygen levels can be affected by eutrophication, as well as the decomposition of organic matter. Also in this case, B2.1 could have some groundwater intrusion which is causing some iron-precipitate to affect the stream, which can pull oxygen from the water. We recommend that funding be sought for further investigation into origins of high phosphorus at this site.

    2. B5.1 (Summervilles Road)

    In the mid Bellinger, there are turbidity issues presenting since the high rainfall events from May 2021 at B5.1 (Summervilles Road), most likely due to runoff and bank erosion issues upstream of this site.

    3. B7.1 (Caratti Creek)

    Samples collected at Caratti Creek (B7.1) often showed elevated levels of phosphate and turbidity and lower levels of dissolved oxygen. Turbidity caused by soil erosion and algal growth among other things is often related to urbanised streams that experience high amounts of stormwater. Further investigation is needed to determine potential sources.

    4. S1 (Spicketts Creek)

    The S1 site (Spicketts Creek) has continually presented with issues over our five years of data. S1 has dispersed soil types once the riverbed is degraded at a certain level. We recommend that further funding be sought for investigation into the cause of these continuing poor water quality results.

All residents and tourists need to work together to

protect what we have.

We work to influence policy and decision making, and educate the community, now and into the future.

Engage our team to deliver a hands-on workshop for your audience

  • Workshops for Schools

    Explore workshops for schools from Bellingen Riverwatch and other OzGREEN programs at the link below.

  • Workshops for Councils

    Explore workshops for councils from Bellingen Riverwatch and other OzGREEN programs at the link below.

  • Workshops for Events

    Explore workshops for events, conferences and festivals from Bellingen Riverwatch and other OzGREEN programs at the link below.

  • Corporate Workshops

    Explore workshops for staff development days or family days from Bellingen Riverwatch and other OzGREEN programs at the link below.

Meet our Steering Committee

Fourteen partners from across NSW work together to guide the program’s direction.

Volunteer with Us

Join the BR family!

Our Rivers. Our Future.

Our Impact

Bellingen Riverwatch plays a part in securing the future of the critically endangered BRST, and other threatened species.

Our data is shared with the NSW Government Saving our Species recovery program for the BRST and 14 Steering Committee partners and supports the successful breeding of turtle captive breeding programs at Symbio Wildlife Park and Taronga Zoo Sydney.

    • Site selection for Bellingen Riverwatch riparian works, 2020 + 2022

    • Bellingen Shire Council Coastal Management Program Scoping Study, 2021

    • Site selection for Local Land Services river restoration works, 2021

    • Bellingen Shire Council Water Quality Monitoring Plan, 2022

    • NSW Government Water Sciences Flooding Recovery Project Site Selection, 2023

  • 9.4K website users in 2022

    400 Newsletter subscribers

    5.7K WQM Map views

    770 Macro Map views

    950 Facebook followers

  • Australian Citizen Science Association Conference, 2020

    NSW Waterwatch Conference, 2021

    International River Health Symposium, 2021

    Australian Citizen Science Association Conference, 2022

  • Woolgoolga Lake Group

    Revive Cathie Group

Threatened species that rely on these rivers

  • Critically Endangered

    Image: Paul Fahy

  • Endangered (NSW & Commonwealth)

    Image: Jack Nesbitt

    Read more

  • Endangered (NSW) Vulnerable (Commonwealth)

    Image: Michael Mahoney

    Read more

  • Endangered Ecological Community

    (NSW) Critically Endangered (Commonwealth)

    Image: Shane Ruming

    Read more

Sponsor Us

Power us to continue our important work.

  • Anna Juodvalkis

    Partnerships Manager

    anna@ozgreen.org.au

    02 5615 8108

We’d love to keep you in the loop

Raw Data

Our raw data is shared with with the NSW Government Saving our Species for the Bellinger River Snapping turtle recovery program. Our water quality raw data is also available at the Waterwatch portal and the DPIE SEED portal

Contacts

  • Bellingen Riverwatch Coordinator

    Sam Daykin

    sam@ozgreen.org.au

    0447 949 259 (Mon-Thurs)

    Bellingen Riverwatch Program Manager

    Amy Denshire

    amy@ozgreen.org.au

  • River & Biodiversity Officer

    Justine Elder

    02 6655 7300

    council@bellingen.nsw.gov.au

    Water Resilience Officer

    Amanda Carter

    02 6655 7300

    council@bellingen.nsw.gov.au

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Project Partners