Moreton Bay, adjacent to Brisbane, the Capital of Queensland, Australia, supports large populations of green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) and dugong (Dugong dugon). The turtles and dugong feed on seagrasses growing on the shallow sand banks of Eastern Moreton Bay. These shallow sand banks are flushed with clean ocean water that enters and exits Moreton Bay through an opening (South Passage) between the large sand islands, North Stradbroke and Moreton Islands.

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As part of the Integrated Water Management Master's program offered by the International WaterCentre (IWC), a four person panel was convened which included Poh-Ling Tan, a lawyer from Griffith University, Helen Thompson, an anthropologist in the private sector, Dr. Stephen Mahler, an engineer from the University of Queensland, and I was the natural sciences representative. Bruce Missingham from the IWC was the moderator.

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One of the more enjoyable projects that I have done was co-author a book entitled "Discover the Waterways of South-East Queensland". The premise behind the book was to give people of Southeast Queensland a guide to viewing their streams, rivers and embayments. The guide was meant to also highlight the key processes and features of the waterways, which the photos and conceptual diagrams that accompanied the map of viewing locations would elucidate.

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The Healthy Waterway Partnership started out as the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay Wastewater Management Study (BR&MBWMS), with six local councils in Southeast Queensland leading the effort in the early 1990s. The original Healthy Waterways office was located as part of the water management office of Brisbane City Council, led by Harry Holland. Shane Pearce was his 2IC (Second in Charge) regarding 'The Study'.

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While on a field trip to Stradbroke Island as described in a previous blog, Dr. Brian McIntosh and I had a discussion about different types of environmental problems. I used the classification scheme of 'simple', 'complicated' and 'complex' problems (ala Glouberman and Zimmerman, 2002). Simple problems are like following a recipe in which a predictable set of results will reliably occur if the directions are faithfully followed.

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For science communication training for the International WaterCentre Masters of Water Management students, we used the chapel of Cromwell College on the University of Queensland campus. It was an interesting venue for this training. My training colleague was Kate Moore, a talented Science Communicator who works as an independent contractor, associated with the International WaterCentre. Following my introduction to science communication, Kate introduced conceptual diagrams.

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This blog post discusses the seminar given by Megan Ward of the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance, at the IAN Seminar Series on September 28, 2010. The Nanticoke River conservation efforts have focused on protection, rather than restoration, reflecting its rural and relatively intact watershed. Megan made it clear that the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance was more interested in building partnerships than direct advocacy.

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This blog post discusses the seminar given by Andrew and Diana Muller at the IAN Seminar Series on August 31, 2010. Pierre Henkart noted that the Severn River had persistent anoxia between June and September which includes noticeable hydrogen sulfide and asked why the South River anoxia was not as pronounced or persistent. Andrew and Diana discussed the increased tidal flushing in the South River compared with the Severn River with its shallow and wide sill at the Severn mouth.

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The International RiverFoundation has a unique role in catalyzing groups of people around the world to achieve river restoration, protection and sustainable management. One way this catalytic role is achieved is through the celebration of exemplary case studies of positive outcomes, publicly acknowledged via the annual awarding of The International Riverprize and the Australian National Riverprize.

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Environmental news is typically bad news. It is focused on negative aspects of human impacts on the environment, and often accompanied with dire predictions about the future. This propensity for dire predictions has been called the 'Cassandra syndrome', referring to Cassandra from Greek mythology who was cursed with the ability to foretell the future but nobody would believe her warnings. There is a good book entitled "Believing Cassandra:

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