Community Education Resources

There are a number of resources available to the community to assist in learning about water quality and catchment health. See below for a comprehensive list.

• Waterwatch Manuals
• Fact Sheets
• New Resources
• Equipment
• Videos
• CD ROMs and On-line Resources
• Environmental Reports and Guidelines
• Water Monitoring Resources

Regional Coordinators are able to assist you with obtaining these resources, please contact us for more information.

Waterwatch Manuals

There are a number of manuals available - click on the links below:

Waterwatch SA

• Waterwatch Australia National Technical Manual
• Estuarine Monitoring - Once available links will be provided to online version of estuarine monitoring manual

Other States

• Waterwatch Tasmania
• Waterwatch Victoria

Fact Sheets

Waterwatch Australia has a number of fact sheets that can be downloaded from their website.

Click on the links below:

• Getting Involved in Waterwatch
• Waterwatch Action Plan
• Environmental Action Through Community Monitoring
• A Waterways Health Check - rating your local waterway
• Code of Practice
• Waterwatch Safety Guidelines

Water Monitoring Resources

A variety of resources on water monitoring and the health of your local waterway are available from your Regional Coordinator.

Critter Catalogue

This catalogue is an informative guide to the natural history of South Australian aquatic invertebrates. This guide provides a summary of the diversity, habits and nature of aquatic invertebrates of this state. It can help you monitor and identify water bugs in your local area.

The catalogue is available as a whole document or alternatively select the section of your interest.

• Critter Catalogue - whole document (2.6MB PDF)
• Critter Catalogue - introduction (155KB PDF)
• Critter Catalogue - sponges, hydras and worms (335KB PDF)
• Critter Catalogue - snails, mussels, pea shells and basket shells (151KB PDF)
• Critter Catalogue - mites, spiders, crustaceans and insects (200KB PDF)
• Critter Catalogue - crustaceans (398KB PDF)
• Critter Catalogue - insects and springtails (1.5MB)
• Critter Catalogue - glossary and bibliography (153KB)

Equipment

Monitoring Kits

Regional Coordinators are able to assist you to purchase or borrow monitoring equipment.

Most Freshwater Monitoring Kits contain:

Most Estuarine Water Monitoring Kits contain:

Most Macro-invertebrate Monitoring Kits contain:

Note - each kit may differ depending on your region.

Useful items to include with all Waterwatch kits

• Pencil
• Biro
• Clip Board
• Stop watch

Identification books

Can be purchased at any good book stores. Useful identification books include:

• Colour Guide to invertebrates of Australian inland waters - John H. Hawking & Felicity J. Smith
• The Waterbug Book - John Gooderham & Edward Tsyrlin
• Waterplants in Australia - G.R. Sainty
• A Field Guide to Frogs of Australia - Martin Robinson
• Green Guide: Frogs of Australia - Gerry Swan
• Seaweeds of Australia - I.G. Christianson, M.N. Clayton & B.M. Allender
• Australian Seashores: A Guide to the Temperate shores for the beach-lover, the naturalist, the shore-fisherman and the student - W.J. Dakin & I. Bennett
• Plants of the Adelaide Plains & Hills - G. Dashorst & J. Jessop
• A Photographic Guide to Seashore Life of Australia - K. Davey
• Australia's Seashores. Environmental Field Guide to Flora and Fauna - F. Haddon
• A Field Guide to Crustaceans of Australian Waters - D. Jones & G. Morgan
• What Scum is That? - S. Mitrovic

Videos

Frog Videos

The Tyler Tapes take you on a journey around the world to discover the history, mysteries and myths of frogs and learn about the role frogs are playing in medical science. Narrated by Australia frog guru, Professor Mike Tyler.

Note - available from South East Waterwatch.

Plant Videos

The Good, the bad and beautiful; Waterplants in Australia. Learn about the economic and environmental costs associated with aquatic weeds and the role native plants play along a water course.

Note - available from South East Waterwatch.

Other

River Murray Region Aquatic Invertebrate key

Downstream: The River Murray

The State Library's has recently launched the new River Murray website named "Downstream". The site contains an enormous amount of historical information including photographs and oral histories of the River.

CD ROMs and On-line Resources

Water: Learning and Living

Water - Learning and Living provides a framework to educate people about water and catchments in South Australia. The resource can be used in CD ROM format or via the internet and enables groups to access relevant information, activities and key contacts at the press of a button.

Catchment Care

This resource focuses on biodiversity issues, and has been produced for groups in the Catchment Water Management Board's 'Our Patch'/'Catchment Care' programs.

Coast and Marine Education

This resource aims to engage people who may not have delved into the coast and marine theme before. It provides easily accessible resources, activities and contacts and demonstrates environmental relevance.

Environmental Reports and Guidelines

A variety of environmental reports are available from your Regional Coordinator or from the Environment Protection Authority website.

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