WATERWATCH AND THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

Waterwatch

Lambton High School has set up a Waterwatch team. This team samples water in Lambton Park once a fortnight during the term. Lambton Park has been chosen as the site the team will sample as it is close to school and the area is soon to be restored. The team will be able to track any changes to the water quality as the restoration proceeds. The results are placed on the Waterwatch site on the internet.

The team is made up of nine students from various junior classes and staff from Science and HSIE. Students and staff underwent training on Tuesday 10 June 2003 in Lambton Park with Colin Mondy and Ingrid Berthold from Waterwatch . Each year, two new students from Year 7 will be invited to join the team and it will be up to the other members to train the new recruits.

Funding to purchase the Waterwatch Kit was provided by Newcastle City Council and the Hunter Water Corporation.Being a member of the Waterwatch team is a very responsible activity. The study is being carried out for the benefit of the whole community. Students who participate are able to become experts very quickly in the importance of clean waterways and the ways in which the water can be compromised by pollution.They also work as environmental officers when they report any unusual pollution in their sample area to the Hunter Water Corporation.

Water is an important topic in Stage 4 and 5 Science and Geography as well as Stage 6 Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Science and Geography. The members of the waterwatch team are able to get a head start over their class mates in the analysis of water. The waterwatch team is able to show other classes in the school how water can be analysed when the classes are studying water topics in their courses.

LAMBTON KER-RAI CREEK
For the past two years environmental officers from Newcastle City Council have been attempting to make the stormwater entrance to Lambton Park "more natural". The surrounding area is heavily populated so the local residents had to be educated so that they limited the material that entered the drain that ended up in Lambton Park. Some activities included -

• A series of local meetings and a fete were held to present the plan.
• One weekend the environmental team travelled to different streets educating the residents - they attracted the locals by exchanging new brooms for old ones. NCC officers encouraged residents to sweep up leaves and a fine grey dust that included material from the brake linings of cars in the gutter so they did not enter the drains.
• An initial survey indicated that few people recognised that they had a local creek running through Lambton Park. As a result of publicity , such as the stormwater flyers community awareness of the creek grew.
• Meetings were held to name the creek. Lambton Ker-rai (meaning creek in local Awabakal language) was the name chosen.

Litter traps were constructed over drains in the main street to filter out paper, plastic and cigarette butts before they entered the waterway. However, the park is used constantly because it has a playground area, tennis courts, cricket and soccer fields and a rotunda which is used for functions such as weddings. As a result, there is still a lot of litter in the creek.
Students from Lambton High School became involved in the project by assisting with the naming of the creek and attending the community meetings to discuss changes to the creek. The latest activity saw students attend the naming of the creek ceremony and the most recent community meeting to discuss changes to allow the creek to become more natural. Students from the school are now testing the water as a waterwatch team and should be able to notice any changes in quality in the creek as it undergoes naturalisation.

The naturalisation of the creek is hoped to be started this year. When the naturalisation of the creek is finished NCC hopes the natural visual image will inspire the park users to limit the rubbish that enters from their activities. This definite plan for the future, with all parties united, will clean up the waterway and restore life. There is a belief "that if you build it they will come" as in the movie Field of Dreams ie. if the waterway is restored then native plant and animal life will return.

The naturalisation of Lambton Ker-rai will create an even better recreational park for local residents as well as increasing infiltration and lessening pollution as far away as the ocean.

Student's waterwatch website