The Hopkins River is an iconic part of Warrnambool, its river mouth a place for children and dogs alike, perfect for a paddle or a splash in summer.
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It's one of the longest rivers in Victoria, winding 271km from Ararat to where it meets the sea at Moyjil. It's also by far the sickest.
The recently announced Rivers of Warrnambool Flagship Project will bring much-needed funding for the ailing river, with $1.02 million allocated to rehabilitation along its lower reaches, along with works along the Merri River and Brucknell Creek.
But given the condition of the river, it is just the first step in a long and costly resurrection.
An ailing basin
The most recent data documenting the condition of the Hopkins River comes from the state government's third Index of Stream Conditions report, which was released in 2019.
The report covers all the major waterways throughout the state and is split into basins: geographical areas where the water flows in to common waterways and then drains into a common outlet like a larger river, lake, or the ocean.
The Hopkins basin - which extends from Tower Hill to Nirranda in the south, all the way to Ararat and Ballarat's western fringes in the north - also includes the smaller Merri River, but the Hopkins and its tributaries like Fiery Creek and Mt Emu Creek dominate the catchment.
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The report splits each of the rivers and creeks in the Hopkins basin into sections - called "reaches" - and each one is rated "excellent", "good", "moderate", "poor", or "very poor", depending on its condition.
Of the 100 reaches in the Hopkins basin, 56 were rated "very poor", 38 were rated "poor" and six were rated "moderate". Not a single one received a "good" or "excellent" rating.
By comparison, in the neighbouring Portland basin - stretching from Tower Hill to Cape Bridgewater and north towards Hamilton - 84 of its 100 reaches received a "moderate" rating, with only a fraction of one reach graded "very poor".
Assessing the damage
The grading for each reach is based on five factors, each given a rating out of 10: hydrology (how good the water flow is), physical form (river bank quality and blockages in the river), streamside zone (quality of vegetation around the river), water quality (chemicals or silt in the water), and the level of aquatic life.
Many reaches of the Hopkins River rated only two out of 10 for hydrology, while its major tributary Mt Emu Creek was even worse, with one stretch getting one out of 10. It means the river has only a fraction of the water flow that it should, which has knock-on effects to other aspects of its health.
Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority executive waterways manager Chris Solum said the data used in the third ISC report was collected back in 2010, when Victoria was still in the grips of the Millennium drought.
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"As a result, condition scores were significantly impacted by the severe lack of flows," he said.
But Mr Solum also said river flows in the Hopkins basin had been very low since the 1990s, when a sudden and unexplained "step-change" in flow levels occurred.
"Since 1997 there has been a significant reduction in flow in the Hopkins Basin, with flows after 1996 being around 60% less than those before," he said.
He said while low flow was a critical factor in the poor health of the basin, the heavily farmed land that surrounds the entire length of the river has had an enormous and ongoing effect on the river ecosystem.
"Water quality in the Hopkins Basin is mainly impacted by runoff from farms, direct stock access to the rivers, and historical clearing of riverbanks," he said.
A legacy of neglect
When farmers came into the area they completely cleared the landscape to create pastures for their cows, including crucial riverside vegetation.
Riparian land - the area around the banks of a waterway - protects the waterway by creating a habitat for native animals and blocking stock which can damage the riverbanks. But the plants also block and filter sediment and chemicals that would otherwise run into the waterway.
The condition of the rivers right now reflects the combined impact of 170 years of European style land-use practices
- Chris Solum
The Hopkins and its tributaries have been without that protection for well over a century.
Over the years many farmers moved from grazing cows to growing crops. Mr Solum said that made the situation even worse.
"As land-use has changed from low input pasture to cropping we have seen a worsening of water quality, particularly for nutrients associated with fertiliser," he said.
Only a handful of reaches in the Hopkins were tested for water quality, but they all returned poor results with elevated levels of phosphorus (from fertiliser) and high salinity.
But Mr Solum said there was cause for cautious optimism for the future. He pointed out the physical form of the Hopkins rated either "good" or "excellent" for much of its length.
The repair mission
The physical form is like the skeleton of a river. Many of the other aspects of the river's health can fluctuate with the climate or surrounding land use, but they can also be rehabilitated. But if the bones of a river - its banks and in-stream habitats - are destroyed, they can be very difficult to repair.
The Rivers of Warrnambool project aims to start putting healthy flesh back on the solid bones of the Hopkins River.
"(It) will include removal of woody weeds, restoring river bank vegetation, reintroducing fish habitat, wetland restoration and other activities," Mr Solum said.
The project will build on smaller initiatives started by community landcare groups over the past five to six years, but it will only address the lower reaches of the Hopkins, along with the Merri and Brucknell Creek.
Mr Solum said the decision to only tackle the reaches of the Hopkins around Warrnambool was basically a question of resources. The stretches of the river around Warrnambool were the most popular parts of the river, so they would receive the most urgent attention.
"Warrnambool is a town surrounded by water... and is therefore deeply connected to these waterways.
"With strong population growth predicted to continue, there is a compelling opportunity now to work with these rivers to restore them to the best condition they can be for the environment," he said.
The hundreds of kilometres of river stretching north to Ararat would be addressed "as far as funding and need allows".
Mr Solum said as important as the CMA's funding was, it was landowners along the length of the river who held the key to the river's future.
"We are dependent upon the good will, interest and efforts of landowners to protect the region's waterways and are fortunate to have a community of passionate river advocates.
Farmers have fenced off large stretches of the riverbanks, removed weeds and revegetated them," he said.
But he said it was a long river and there was plenty of water to go under the bridge before it was back to even moderate health.
"The condition of the rivers right now reflects the combined impact of 170 years of European style land-use practices with the emerging impact of climate change.
"The future health will be a result of how well we can address those."
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