International River Symposium in Melbourne
After a busy week away without an NGT blog update, welcome back!
The International River Symposium I attended last week in Melbourne was a great opportunity to hear about some of the great projects that are underway to improve water management and restore rivers all over the world. While I didn’t come home with the prize for the River Management Young Achievers Award, I had a terrific time and am very grateful for the opportunity – so thanks to the International WaterCentre Alumni Network for their support of the Award. Also a hearty congratulations to the winners of this year’s Awards: Celine Steinfeld won the Young Achievers Award, the Condamine River won the Australian RiverPrize, and the Willamette River won the International RiverPrize.
Once the formal proceedings were over, I had the opportunity to see parts of the Yarra River and its catchment during the conference study tour hosted by Melbourne Water, and was a real eye opener to the complexities of managing an urban river. We visited Dight Falls, an upstream primary production zone and Maroondah Reservoir in a water catchment that supplies Melbourne.
Winery in the Yarra Valley
Maroondah Reservoir
Hearing about development pressures on the urban river at Dight Falls
The historic diversion channel (left), new vertical slot fishway under construction (centre), and Dight Falls weir (right)
