John Forrester's pastime involves working with other like-minded volunteers to ensure that the state of the Werribee River is always healthy and that it is an ongoing attractive waterway for everyone. Unfortunately, there is much work to be done to bring the river up to a suitable condition. The water quality is poor, many areas are being damaged and the amount of litter in and along the river is disturbingly high. John is officially known as the Werribee River's Riverkeeper and is an important member of the Werribee River Association (WRA) which was formed in 1981. It is obvious from his talk that he wears the title with great pride and responsibility. As a Riverkeeper, he has a variety of different roles including organising clean-up working bees and being an advocate for the river within the community and to local and State authorities. Some other projects include revegetation and collecting information for research. Unfortunately, with the exponential growth of Werribee over the past 20 years, the ongoing protection and maintenance of the river has been treated as a low priority by State and Local Government authorities. However, thanks to much lobbying from John and his coleagues, the State Government has established the Waterways of the West program as a means to raise the profile of the many streams in the area. Some of the factors that have affected the river in recent times or will have a significant impact in the near future include: - Protecting both sides of the river from Werribee to Werribee South by establishing buffer zones instead allowing land owners and businesses to have direct access to the water's edge.
- Expansion of Werribee Open Range Zoo in the next few years.
- A future port road and railway corridor at Werribee South.
- To the north of Werribee, farming land on the west side of the river will be converted to a new regional park - similar to Presidents Park.
- However, on the east side, much of the farming land will be superseded by housing estates which will result in minimal corridor width.
- Increased presence of blue-green algae.
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