On a beautiful winters day last month, Ambassadors from 11 schools across the Mornington Peninsula gathered for their workshop on Litter and Pollution in the Catchments at Tanti Wetlands. After watching the crew from Melbourne Water empty the litter trap, the Ambassadors then learnt how the range of invertebrates in the wetlands show the health of the waterways, and they tested the water quality.
Wetlands like these are constructed to channel stormwater and clean the water of rubbish and pollution before it finds its way to the bay. This is an incredibly important protection for our precious marine environment in Port Phillip. The crews work very hard, looking after 176 similar sites across Melbourne.
In the afternoon, we learnt about our Dolphin Monitoring Project (we even saw 3 dolphins darting round the point) and then walked along the pier and beach at Mornington surveying and collecting litter as a reminder that all drains and creeks lead to the bay and at every step along the way, there are pressures from human impact. Every effort we make in our community to lessen that impact is fantastic!
Many thanks to Mitch, John and the crew at Melbourne Water for the amazing support you give us over the year and to the Mornington Peninsula Shire for their ongoing sponsorship of this program.