Terrain Natural Resource Management - Healthy Waters Management Plans

Healthy Waters Management Plans

Written by Fiona Barron

The Queensland Government is funding the development of Healthy Water Management Plans (this planning was previously funded through Australian Government initiatives and called Water Quality Improvement Plans, WQIPs). The Wet Tropics NRM region has three existing WQIPs for the Douglas, Tully-Murray and Barron-Trinity Inlet areas.

The development of the HWMPs for the Herbert, Johnstone, Russell and Mulgrave catchments is progressing however with changes at Policy level within DERM there is significant pressure to ensure there is far greater coordination across the water quality (HWMPs) and quantity (WRP) work currently occurring across the Wet Tropics. This drive for coordination has led to close discussions at all levels with DERM and good working partnerships however, it has also meant that it is a little more complicated as public consultation activities need to be coordinated with consultation activities for the Wet Tropics Water Resource Plan.

As part of developing the HWMPs, Terrain engaged the Australian Centre for Freshwater Research to undertake a review of available water quality data and provide a Report on water quality issues analysis for the Herbert, Johnstone, Russell and Mulgrave Rivers. These Reports have been finalised and will provide the essential foundation for determining current loads and targets once Environmental Values (EVs) have been determined. As part of the HWMP process, and in consultation with the community, DERM will identify environmental values and water quality objectives to protect or improve the waterways. This consultation will occur at the catchment-scale meetings.

The technical assessments (particularly ecological and socio-economic) being undertaken by DERM for the Wet Tropics Water Resource Plan will also provide critical information to further inform the development of the HWMPs.

A key requirement of the HWMP process is identifying management actions and preparing an implementation plan. This step requires good land-use information and DERM are currently updating their land-use data for the Herbert , Russell and Mulgrave and this revised data is expected to be available around mid 2011. Management actions that will be implemented and lead to improved water quality outcomes have already been identified by Terrain’s industry working groups and priority practices exist for the grazing, cane, banana and pawpaw industries. Therefore, identifying the catchment and sub-catchment specific practices will be addressed next year once the EV workshops have been completed with each catchment community.

These catchments all have a long Integrated Catchment Management history with effective catchment Groups and detailed management plans in existence. It is expected that the HWMPs will utilise updated water quality information and land-use information and build on these detailed Catchment Plans which will essentially provide the detailed implementation activities.

The identified activities and priorities that already exist as a result of extensive community input will lead to not only more efficient businesses but also improved water quality outcomes with healthy ecosystems which will result in a healthier Great Barrier Reef.

In December 2010 a technical panel workshop was held in Cairns to determine the High Ecological Value areas for the Wet Tropics. This work is part of the Environmental Values work that looks at Aquatic ecosystems(rather than the human uses which are covered in separate EV workshops) and focuses on Condition and Level of Protection, largely in the protected areas.The Draft Technical Panel Report from this workshop can be found at;

pdf DraftTechReport_Wet TropicsHEV (Mar2011) 1.58 Mb

As part of the development of the HWMPs, a series of community workshops was held in August 2011. These workshops were to inform and enable community input to the development of the Environmental Values (EVs), human uses, that be will protected for community use.

For each of the four catchments that do not have an existing WQIP, information is being developed for inclusion in the strategic Wet Tropics HWMP and the draft information is listed below under a heading for each catchment. There are four items; two each for the draft EVs and two for the draft Water Quality Guidelines (WQGs):
(i) an EV worksheet and
(ii) a map(s) showing the grouping of the waterways in each catchment, as listed on the worksheet [The Word documents are the worksheets and the PDFs are maps - EVareas],
(iii) draft maps showing the waters that the appropraite water quality guideline values apply to
(iv) a table of draft water quality guideline values.

Worksheets showing the Draft information were compiled following the August workshop and we are seeking further community comment to ensure we have captured the information correctly.
We are looking to have further community meetings, in early 2012, to review the draft Water Quality Objectives and agree on management actions to deliver these water quailty outcomes.

Map showing the Wet Tropics HWMP areas

pdf WetTropics_HWMP_WQIPareas_Dec2011.pdf 1.27 Mb

Herbert