The short answer is yes, but long time residents know the fish that used to be there are gone.
So how do we know that the creeks are relatively clean?
Because Still Creek Landcare is part of the Streamwatch organization. Streamwatch operates right across Sydney’s waterways, providing testing equipment, training, techniques and expertise to support our physical, chemical and biological water quality testing.
Streamwatch “eyes on the water” has contributed to the early warning and quick action for:
• pollution at Thornleigh recently
• biosecurity at Lawson the first NSW place detecting the European Black Slug
You can find our local waterways results for the last 10 years at http:// www.stillcreeklandcare.com.au/our-catchment/water-quality/.
We are fortunate in this country that none of our children is among the 1.4 million world-wide who die each year from diarrhoea, mainly due to poor water. To keep it that way, each of us can help preserve our local water quality by:
• using nil or low Phosphorus detergents
• using fertilisers and chemicals carefully and sparingly
• collecting livestock manure
• keeping grazing animals away from creeks
Unfortunately, Streamwatch is under threat. The NSW government will stop funding Streamwatch from June this year, so it could cease very soon. A petition has been set up to continue funding Streamwatch and support the volunteers monitoring and collecting samples of our waterways. Please visit http://chng.it/MTfDL7QgVX to sign the petition to help Streamwatch continue its valuable work. Community water testing is important and a very cost effective way of keeping a pulse on the health of our waterways. Its importance only increases as water stress gets worse across the state and Australia.
If you are interested in learning more about our testing, please contact 9653 2056 or visit http://www.stillcreeklandcare.com.au
