“Rivers are the arteries of our planet; they are lifelines in the truest sense.” Mark Angelo (Founder of World Rivers Day)

This World Rivers Day, WCS wish to celebrate the Yarra Riverkeeper Association who speak for our own beautiful, resilient, iconic river. We recognise and support their commitment to highlighting the value of our rivers, increasing public awareness and encouraging the improved stewardship of the Yarra River and its tributaries.

A major piece of work commissioned by the Yarra Riverkeeper Association (YKA) is the Yarra Catchment Atlas. This is the place to go to when you want to learn about the Yarra River and its catchment. The river is presented in all its complexity - there are layers for everything from groundwater to biodiversity to heritage. The Atlas captures a whole range of mapped data about the Yarra – with each set representing different aspects of the river, including biodiversity, water monitoring sites, historical data, cultural information, chemical disasters and geology. Using them, we are able to visualise, map, query and analyse the information between different layers to get comprehensive reports.
The intent of the Atlas is to involve the community in understanding their river and catchment and help to ensure that it is healthy, protected and loved.

The journey for the Atlas has just begun. YKA intend to expand the atlas and include more data in a more user-friendly way in future iterations of the atlas. The aim of the atlas at its simplest is to create a better river and catchment. Check it out here: https://www.yarraatlas.org.au/