General News
5 August, 2026
Testing Timboon’s waterways
TIMBOON P-12 Year Seven Humanities students have learnt more about water testing and its importance after a visit to the Curdies River Trestle Bridge Citizen Science testing site in Timboon.
As part of the Timboon Agriculture Project (TAP) program, students at Timboon P-12 are able to explore real-life learning with the help of industry experts and the wider community.
This excursion followed a previous excursion last term to the local testing site at the Kookaburra Tree at Power Creek to test the waterways there.
For this excursion, students met river facilities facilitator Bec McCristal to test the water of the Curdies River and learn how water testing can improve regional waterways.
TAP coordinator Andrea Vallance said the excursion was a great opportunity for students to experience hands-on learning with the help of an industry professional.
“Bec, who helps facilitate the River Detectives program through the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority (CCMA), welcomed the students to the site and emphasised the importance of regular water testing to help track the health of regional waterways,” she said.
“Due to recent rains, we anticipated that the water samples would not be as clear as the April testing results and we expected that other variants as soil, debris and potentially containments had been flushed into the water way.
“The students completed a habitat assessment and recorded the weather, recent rains, and the creeks width, depth, state, flow, appearance, temperature and health.
“Water samples were assessed to determine the physics and chemistry including pH, turbidity, electrical conductivity, and reactive phosphorus with results varying from excellent – poor.
“This was a great opportunity to see a local waterway in flood following several drier seasons and how a river is a great barometer as it reflects the seasonality and health of the catchment area that it flows through.”
Mrs Vallance thanked Ms McCristal for her guidance and providing an engaging learning opportunity for students.
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