Water Quality Improvement Plans (WQIPs) identify the main problems facing local waterways and the key means for "cleaning up" and maintaining catchments. These identified and agreed actions will help improve the health of the Great Barrier Reef, which is being affected by excessive amounts of nutrients, pesticides and sediments carried from upstream environments.

WQIPs were first developed with funding from the Australian Government’s Coastal catchments Initiative (CCI). The Douglas catchment, including the Daintree, Mossman and Mowbray catchments was the first area in the Wet Tropics NRM region to develop a WQIP.

The WQIPs were a vital part of the Australian and Queensland Government's Reef Water Quality Protection Plan (2003). The Reef Plan aims to "halt and reverse the decline in water quality entering the Reef within 10 years."

The Australian Government provided $7.5 in funding for Reef catchments to boost efforts to protect the health of the Reef. Part of the funding was for monitoring water quality in rivers and wetlands and encouraging improvements in land management and land condition. Funding priorities included activities and priority actions such as those identified in Water Quality Improvement Plans (WQIPs) and other planning activities carried out across the region.

The WQIPs are a vital part of the Australian and Queensland Government's Reef Water Quality Protection Plan (2003) and (2009). This overarching plan aims to "halt and reverse the decline in water quality entering the Reef within 10 years."

Water Quality Improvement Plans for rivers in the Wet Tropics

• Barron
• Tully
• Douglas