Rivers of Carbon is the on-ground program of the Australian River Restoration Centre.

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Overview

Location: Greater Sydney Drinking Water Catchment - encompassing Braidwood, Goulburn, the Southern Highlands, Lithgow, Portland and northern Sydney drinking water catchment areas.

The Source Water Linkages project was a large-scale river restoration initiative led through our Rivers of Carbon program in partnership with WaterNSW. It focused on protecting and restoring waterways to improve water quality within critical drinking water catchments that supply regional communities.

Project Area

Working in close partnership with landholders, the project supported on-ground restoration delivery such as riverbank revegetation, stock exclusion fencing, erosion control, and habitat rehabilitation. These actions are designed to improve water quality at the source, strengthening landscape and climate resilience.

The project delivered measurable environmental and community outcomes, including healthier waterways, improvements in water quality, improved biodiversity, increased carbon storage in riparian landscapes, and stronger long-term stewardship of catchment management.

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“We are just custodians of this land, and whoever is on it has a responsibility to look after it as best they can.”
- Angus Gibson, partner landholder from the Source Water Linkages project

We also developed resources and guides under this project, helping landholders implement best-practice land management. These included:  

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Progress

  • Working across 69 properties
  • 82.4kms of riparian area fenced
  • 37,540+ natives planted
  • 427 ha of riparian area protected

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Timeline

The Source Water Linkages Project commenced in 2017 and was completed in 2026.