The Eastern Cape York Water Quality Program (2021 - 2025) was a $9.8 Million collaborative program that quantified threats to water quality and demonstrated effective actions to reduce sediment loads in the rivers of southeast Cape York Peninsula. 

Four local organisations led seven projects all working towards the goal of reducing sediment run-off to the Great Barrier Reef.  ECYWQP projects addressed five key areas: track erosion, gully erosion, Council Road erosion, fire management, and water quality and aquatic ecosystem monitoring. The work took place across eight coastal catchments - Annan, Endeavour, McIvor, Starke, Jeannie, Howick, Wakooka, and Muck, covering 631,000. 

Cape York Water Partnership led the Program Management team that coordinated the Program, as well as managing two projects - the Water Quality and Aquatic Ecosystems Monitoring Project and Track Erosion Control Projects. The ECYWQP Legacy Project  drew on the findings of the ECYWQP to identify priorities for future funding for water quality improvement and review funding opportunities to continue the priority actions. (Links below for more details on these projects and related publications.)

The other local delivery organisations were South Cape York Catchments, South Endeavour Trust and Yuku Baja Muliku Land and Sea Rangers.  Traditional Owner groups, Cook Shire Council, local land holders and land managers, and many others were involved as project partners.

The Eastern Cape York Water Quality Program is funded by the partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.