As a kid, I loved exploring creeks and mangrove forests. They were places I could escape and discover. I fell in love with the way the salt water mixed with the fresh, and how the water mixed with the land. I fell in love with the crabs, eels, mullet, puffer fish, yabbies and sometimes, sea turtles. I fell in love with the smell of the mangroves and mud. I spent so much time in these places that I came to see how they changed with the tides, seasons and eventually, the way people used the land around them. I saw that more shops and people meant more litter. I saw that more homes and roads meant dirtier water and collapsing banks. I saw less animals and different plants. I came to understand the connection between the way people used the land and the health of the creeks and mangrove forests I loved to explore, and that stormwater was the link.

Fast forward a couple of decades and I have joined the Stormwater New South Wales committee. To it, I bring a passion for protecting waterways that has stuck with me since I was a kid, and a little over a decade of experience doing that kind of work. I look forward to working with Stormwater New South Wales to progress stormwater management practice in New South Wales, so that kids now and into the future can continue to enjoy creeks and mangroves forests just as I did.