Day 9

Today was a very busy day, we visited several committees and talked with more than 10 people about different topics, such as water planning, water quality, and waste water treatment. We learned a lot about the community-based integrated NRM, we were surprised that there are 56 different NGO committees in Toowooba, and so many people take care of the health of waterways and environmental development.

Phil McCullough, CEO of Condamine Alliance, gave us a talk on the following topics: Community-based integrated NRM in the intensively used Condamine catchment, issues and challenges, approaches and processes.

Geoff Penton, CEO of Queensland Murray-Darling Committee (QMDC), gave us a talk on the following topics: Community-based integrated NRM in the extensive and drier Maranoa-Balonne and Border Rivers catchments, issues, approaches and processes to protect assets; and an overview of Landcare.

Paul Webb, Regional Water Officer of QMDC, talked about the topic: Water quality monitoring and riverine management in the QMD with emphasis on community-based approaches.

Greg Dinsey, Manager of Toowoomba Reginal Council, talked about the topic: Stormwater management and flood mitigation and groundwater recharge in East, West and Gowrie Creeks, also stream recovery and improvement plans and sites.

Alan Kleinschmidt, talked about the topics: State-of-the-art Sewage Treatment Plant, processes and standards, reuse of water, etc.

In QMDC, Wang Ping gave the presentation about the Key Issues of the Yellow River, all the staff were amazed by the great difference of the river condition between here and the Yellow River, in particular, the high sediment, and the huge population of the river basin.

It is a special day – Peter’s birthday, and after today’s activities, we went to buy a birthday cake for him, and then went to an Indian restaurant for dinner to enjoy this happy day. We want to say that: Happy birthday, Peter! Thanks a lot for your help during the past months, we all regard you as our best friend, and we are so glad to make friends with you, in spite of there is so much difference of culture and custom between here and our country and sometimes we may make your annoyed. We hope our friendship can be maintained for ever, and cherish the memory of staying in Australia.

After supper, we went to a table tennis club to meet Greg Dinsey to show our skill of playing table tennis, because we think Chinese people often play well in table tennis. However, in fact, we could not win the competition with Greg, you know, he is the coach of the club, and he is the best one among us.

By Wang Ping & Yang Libin