Everything Water Studio designs drains to a creek eventually. What happens in those creeks and rivers matters to the work, so Water Studio puts time and money into the groups looking after them.
Australian Platypus Conservancy
Water Studio has sponsored the Australian Platypus Conservancy (APC) every year since 2023. The APC does research, monitoring and education to help look after platypus and rakali in the wild, and I always look forward to their newsletter, Platypus News & Views.
Water Studio’s platypus work goes beyond sponsorship. On Yarra Ranges Council’s Tanks for Platypus program, Water Studio provides the engineering advice behind a network of smart rainwater tanks that help restore flows in Monbulk Creek for its threatened platypus.
Hair ties are still killing platypus
The latest issue (no. 103, August 2026) reports another platypus found dead in the upper Ovens River at Bright with an elastic hair tie cutting into its neck. Several deaths there have been linked to hair ties left behind at swimming holes.
Please don’t swim with one on. Pick up loopy litter wherever you see it, and snip through elastic and plastic loops before you bin them. Litter dropped in the street washes into the drain, and the drain ends up in a waterway. More on litter and platypus.
Read the full newsletter and past issues on the APC website
Caring Farms Co-op
Water Studio also gives time to community projects. When Professor Tim Fletcher asked if we could help Caring Farms Co-op, an inclusive urban farm in Greensborough, Jamie donated the time to prepare the farm’s landscape and water sensitive design plans for its planning permit, and is now helping the co-op look at funding for the works. Read the Caring Farms case study.