Having grandly announced a new series of articles on Illawarra waterways, I was promptly struck with an intense case of writer's block. Or, to be honest, it was more like writer's log-jam, with dozens of thoughts crowding in together and butting up against my word limit and narrow publishing deadline. What to write about? Creeks north to south? Illawarra's riparian history, from thousands of generations of Dharawal people's habitation and care, to the increasingly intense developments since 1788? 'My favourite rivers'?? I was stumped!

But then I had a message from a friend asking what the next steps are for restoring her patch of Cabbage Tree Creek in Fairy Meadow, and it reminded me of why originally I started thinking about local waterways. And it's that pretty well everyone who lives in the region has a waterway or two nearby, and needs to cohabit with that waterway.

Many people face occasional or regular flooding from a creek, drain or unmanaged overland water flow. Many people 'own' a stretch of creek and need to make decisions about how to manage it. And everyone who engages in environmental care work (Bushcare, Landcare etc) is part of a constant balancing act, trying to restore local creeks while dealing with the fact that they are profoundly modified by urban development, and usually serve as 'drains' used to channel stormwater. So many of us face choices about how to live with local creeks. 

So. I think I'll start from this as a problem, as a challenge, and as a question: How can we best live with our local waterways?

And this in turn engenders a series of other questions: What values do we apply when we decide whether and how to intervene with a particular creek or gully? What institutional frameworks, regulations and resources create the constraints and opportunities within which each of us makes decisions about local waterways? What is the history of our local creek or gully, and whose Country is it on? Who else is in the space, making impactful decisions? (For example, local councils develop riparian management strategies, such as Wollongong City Council's draft West Dapto Urban Release Area Riparian Management Strategy, that have profound implications for local waterways.)

I'll aim to work with local stakeholders to answer this question from a range of perspectives in the coming weeks. 

And I can say from the outset that I don't have any simple answers.

We're moving into a time of dramatic climate change, with local predictions of higher temperatures, higher rainfall and significantly increased rainfall intensity. We're facing a biodiversity crisis, with uncertain implications. And politically... well, it's complicated.

But let's see where this question takes us. How can we best live with our local waterways? 

Maybe this gets us no further than my article last week? I'm not sure. But I hope it frames the series in a little more detail, and I hope it encourages you, the reader, to think about this important question from your own perspective. 

About the writer

Emma Rooksby is a local volunteer bush regenerator and environmental educator who helped establish the Growing Illawarra Natives website. She is passionate about protecting and restoring local biodiversity in the Illawarra region and collaborates with many groups and individuals who share that passion.