Better Water Workshop Series: Final Evaluation Report

GHD and Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, 2009

Volumes 1 and 2

Executive Summary

The Better Water Workshops (BWW) Series was an initiative of the Department of the Environment Water Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) and was developed and delivered by a consortium (the BWW Team) led by GHD. It involved the development, delivery and evaluation of communication and capacity building workshops designed to improve water quality management consistent with the National Water Quality Management Strategy (NWQMS) in 18 Natural Resource Management (NRM) Regions across Australia. This document reports on the effectiveness of the initiative against the outcomes identified in the Evaluation Framework previously approved by DEWHA.
Four broad goals guided the development of the BWW Series. These were to:

  • Help improve water quality management, monitoring and reporting in regional investment strategies and catchment management plans under national programmes
  • Assist local communities to improve management of water quality in their local area by explaining key components of the NWQMS such as environmental values, local water objectives, water quality targets and monitoring and reporting frameworks
  • Build on and strengthen regional networks involved in water quality management, and
  • Transfer skills and knowledge regarding water quality management within a community.

At the practical level the workshops aimed to:

  • Engage participants and provide them with skills to build on water quality achievements and current plans and strategies
  • Assist the further development of plans and actions that identify local environmental values, water quality objectives, water quality targets, monitoring and reporting frameworks
  • Provide examples of successful approaches based on the local water quality issues, and
  • Help to address regional and local priorities and needs.