Click here for information about the Cooks River catchment
How you can help improve the health of the river
Find out how local communities are getting involved
Cooks River Alliance
The Cooks River Alliance was launched in September 2011 by eight councils in the Cooks River Catchment – Ashfield, Bankstown, Canterbury, City of Sydney, Hurstville, Marrickville, Strathfield and Rockdale. The Alliance employs a small but dedicated team with the aim of effectively addressing the complex problems of the Cooks River in the long term, whilst maximizing the efficient use of member councils’ limited resources.
Alliance activities will include – actively engaging with people living and working in the Cooks River Catchment, monitoring water quality, seeking funding from government and private organisations for catchment projects and managing the construction of on-ground works, and advocating and lobbying for legislative amendments to help improve the health of the catchment. This site is in the process of being updated so please contact us if you are unable to find the information you are looking for.
Welcome & News
Community Riverhealth Monitoring Program – YOUR RIVER NEEDS YOU!
16 March 2012 – The Cooks River Alliance invites all Sydney residents to help give the Cooks River a health check. Working alongside scientists, volunteers will collect data to contribute to the long-term sustainable management of the Cooks River. We will train you to collect and identify macroinvertebrates (waterbugs) in creeks and tributaries of the Cooks River. For more details of when and where these events are happening and how to take part, please visit our Riverhealth Program page.
New Cooks River Alliance e-newsletter Launched!
23 January 2012 – The first issue of the Cooks River Alliance’s quarterly e-newsletter was published today, giving details about the new Alliance and its activities since its launch in September 2011. Please follow this link to view the January 2012 e-newsletter. If you would like to recieve future e-newsletters, please scroll down this page and fill in the form.
First Riverhealth Monitoring Volunteers’ Day
19 November 2011 – A dozen volunteers took part in the first Riverhealth monitoring volunteers’ event on a sunny Saturday morning at Coolibah Reserve in Rockdale. The award winning Riverhealth project was initiated in 2009 by the Georges River Combined Councils’ Committee (GRCCC) and initially covered the Georges River catchment. Due to its success, the second phase of the project is now expanding to include the Cooks River, in partnership with the new Cooks River Alliance.
Enthusiastic Rivehealth volunteers were taught by our scientist Claire Evans how to sample aquatic macroinvertebrates (a fancy name for waterbugs!), how to identify these critters and interpret the data to assess just how healthy our creeks and rivers are. The data collected will be extremely valuable as it will help us assess the ecological health of the Cooks River and identify areas where further investigation and remediation are required. Claire will also be collecting data at other locations throughout the Cooks River which will form part of a ‘report card’ on the health of the Cooks River which will be published on our website in September 2012.
If you would like to volunteer for future Riverhealth events, please contact us.
Cooks River Eco Festival
13 November 2011 – Thank you to everyone who visited the Cooks River Alliance stall at the Cooks River Eco Festival hosted by Strathfield Council – it was a beautiful day and we were delighted to hear all your views about how you would help improve the health of the Cooks River. We will be touch with all respondants soon.
See permeable paving in action!
Check out a video of water being absorbed into the car park of the Tom Foster Community Care Centre here!. OurRiver and Marrickville Council recently installed permeable paving to filter stormwater run-off from the car park. Find out more.
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A rain garden is a planted depression that absorbs rainwater runoff from impervious urban areas like roofs, driveways, footpaths and roads. Read more here
