In 2021 Sustainable Coastlines launched a new strategic direction for their Love Your Water restoration programme, based on a long-term, whole catchment approach. With a focus that goes beyond planting trees, to deliver best practice frameworks to ensure high tree survival rates and enhanced biodiversity.
This catchment approach also ensures communities are supported to look after and restore the full freshwater ecosystem. This includes delivering water-quality education, riparian planting days, weeding and releasing activities and citizen science water monitoring.
The Jenkins Foundation generously provided funding to purchase four Stream Health Monitoring and Assessment Kits (SHMAK), and to run a pilot for a Freshwater Monitoring Programme.
This newly established monitoring programme meant Sustainable Coastlines was able to train school kids and local communities to become citizen scientists, equipping them with the necessary testing kits and knowledge to monitor the water quality and water health in each catchment. They were also able to collect data to judge how healthy the streams are and measure the impact of their Love Your Water restoration programme.
We can not improve what we do not measure, and SHMAK kits [Stream Health Monitoring and Assessment Kits] provide the best tool for monitoring catchment health.
