A new water quality monitoring project was launched in Menindee last week called Ngarratja Warrkina, which means ‘All Working Together’ in the Barkindji language. This project is a collaboration between the Barkindji Native Title Group, The NSW Environmental Protection Authority and the Department of Climate Change Energy Environment and Water.

The program will provide training for Barkindji River Rangers to monitor the water quality in the Baaka, and provide sampling data as well as on the ground observations to better inform the department and the EPA about what's going with the water quality in the Baaka. This program emerges from the terrible fish kills in the Baaka 13 months ago and the last few years of shocking water quality in the Baaka, a crisis which is still ongoing with blue-green algal red alerts popping up across the lake system. 

We went down to Menindee last week to the launch of the program, and I had the privilege of speaking with the program's participants.