What is a catchment?

A catchment is an area of land where water collects when it rains, often bounded by hills.  As the water flows
over the landscape it finds its way into streams and down into the soil, eventually feeding the river.  Some of
this water stays underground and continues to slowly feed the river in times of low rainfall.  Every inch of land
on the Earth forms part of a catchment.

Catchments can range greatly in size from small urban sub-catchments such as Prospect Creek that feeds part
of the larger Georges River Catchment, to massive catchments such as the Murray-Darling Basin that spans
three states.
THE WATER CYCLE
Catchments are complex and something The term 'water cycle' is used to describe the process that begins with
happening in one part of the catchment energy from the sun evaporating water from oceans, rivers and lakes to
become water vapour. Water is also evaporated from plants - a process
can have a big impact on other parts.  In known as transpiration.
Australia, the past 200 years has seen big
changes to our catchments.  Natural As the water vapour rises, it cools and condenses into billions of tiny
landforms such as bushland and small droplets to form clouds. When the air cools, the droplets that make up the
creeks have been replaced in many areas clouds merge until they are so big and heavy that they fall back to Earth as
rain, hail or snow (precipitation).
by houses, roads, footpaths and
stormwater pipes.  This has had a large
impact on our creeks and rivers.  Some of this precipitation evaporates, some seeps into the ground to
become groundwater and some stays on or near the surface to form streams,
and ultimately rivers. Once the water has fallen to Earth, the cycle starts
Why are catchments over again.

important?
The idea of catchments is useful, as it is
the standard functioning unit of the landscape: water, soil, plants and animals are all linked together within a
catchment, and any activity that occurs within a catchment will affect the whole catchment.  Healthy
catchments are important for human survival, as it is where our food is grown and where all the water we
drink comes from.

What is a healthy catchment?

A healthy catchment is one that is still able to function as a catchment should.  It should be able to filter and
clean water as it flows overland and seeps through the ground, and there should be lots of opportunities for
water to seep into the ground so that it can be used by plants.

What is wrong with our catchments now?

Over the last 200 years Australians have been busy building cities and towns.  Land has been cleared, roads
and footpaths laid, farms created and stormwater systems installed.  The Georges River catchment is one of
Australia's most urbanised and developed catchments and this has lead to poor health throughout most of the
catchment.  Stormwater pollution, sedimentation, lack of infiltration, loss of biodiversity and invasion of
weeds are some of the primary problems that we are facing.  As a result the health of the River itself has
declined.

Visit our Impacts and Problems pages for more information and tips on how you can help to improve the health
of the Georges River Catchment.
 

Image courtesy of Waterwatch Queensland.