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Coastal and Marine Pollution
Volume 1, Issue 6
Environment Australia, December 2002
Issue 6 of Stormwater News concentrates on stormwater management. With increasing urbanisation comes environmental responsibility for water management. This is being addressed across Australia with new management strategies and guidelines, improved planning processes and on ground works.
Issue 6 completes this Volume of Stormwater News. All six issues can be downloaded in text or pdf format from www.ea.gov.au/coasts/pollution/usi/index.html
The Coastal Catchments Initiative (CCI) provides $1.8 million during 2002-2003 to help improve coastal water quality. CCI is a Natural Heritage Trust Program seeking to deliver significant reductions in the discharge of pollutants to hotspots identified through agreement with the relevant jurisdictions.
Federal Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Dr David Kemp said the money would be used to begin the work of improving the condition of important urban river estuaries and coastal waters through a range of measures including the promotion of water sensitive urban design, the re-use of waste water and stormwater, reducing urban stormwater run-off and addresses industrial discharges.
Further funding for the Initiative, which will be for the life of the trust through to 2006/07, will be decided in annual budget discussions. This new approach implements the Commonwealth's Framework for Marine and Estuarine Water Quality Protection and augments the highly successful Living Cities Program.
Dr Kemp said Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay and the Derwent Estuary in Hobart were water quality hotspots he would like to see targeted for a reduction in discharge of pollutants. Other areas being considered include the Adelaide's Port Waterways, Moreton Bay and the Great Sandy Streat in Queensland.
For more information on CCI go to www.ea.gov.au/coasts/pollution/cci/index.html
The Commonwealth Government's extension of the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT2) will continue to provide funds to help restore and conserve Australia's environment and natural resources. An additional $1 billion over five years will ensure the future of many ongoing activities. An investment of $350 million is to be used on measures to improve Australia's water quality.
These funds will be delivered at three levels: national investments, regional investments, and a local action component — the Australian Government Envirofund. Envirofund grants will provide funding up to $30 000 to address local natural resource management issues.
Regional level investments will become the principal delivery mechanism for the Trust and will where appropriate model the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality. Regional investment is made on the basis of an accredited regional natural resource management plan that incorporates the major natural resource management issues for the area.
Investment at National level will cover national priorities addressing activities that have a national or broad scale, rather than a regional or local outcome.
For more information on NHT2 go to www.nht.gov.au/extension.html
A complementary program to the NHT, the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality(NAP) will see $1.4 billion of joint Commonwealth and State funds for management activities in priority agricultural areas of Australia. These activities will be identified in accredited regional natural resource management plans.
For more information on NAP go to www.napswq.gov.au
Reed bed technology employing oyster shells instead of gravel is part of Bartter Enterprises integrated stormwater management. Bartter Enterprises is the second largest poultry processor in Australia and operates a large site in Beresfield adjacent to the Woodberry Wetland.
In stormwater treatment terms reed beds are thought of as 'attached growth reactors' in which plants, animals and microorganisms co-exist to process wastes into living material.
At Bartter's Beresfield site, reducing contaminated site runoff started with improved house keeping and cleaning technology. Any remaining contaminants then pass through a Horizontal Subsurface Flow Reed Bed consisting of oyster shell to 1.5 meters deep. The water level is maintained approximately 100mm below the bed surface. This reduces health risks and maintenance problems while providing a perfect habitat zone for worms, beetles and a range of insect larvae.
An oyster shell medium was chosen for the Beresfield installation for several reasons;
The combined system has proven highly effective in improving the quality of stormwater leaving the Beresfield site.
For more information contact: Advitech Pty Ltd, on (02) 4961 6544 or email mail@advitech.com.au
Brisbane City Council has recognised that the quantity and quality of urban stormwater runoff is of prime importance in managing the growth of Brisbane City. Water Quality Management Guidelines address this problem in their new City Plan.
Tony Weber, formerly of Brisbane City Council and now Senior Scientist at WBM Oceanics Australia, recognises that development and implementation of comprehensive Water Quality Management Guidelines has been fundamental to supporting Brisbane's new planning scheme.
The main purpose of the Brisbane City Council's Water Quality Management Guidelines and associated technical guidelines and documents, is to provide developers, consultants and Council Officers with an understanding of key issues and measures to effectively manage water quality impacts as defined under the Queensland Integrated Planning Act 1997. It is anticipated that the guidelines will assist the development of Site-Based Stormwater Management Plans. "In addition these guidelines provide a clear direction as to what key stormwater quality issues must be addressed during the planning, design, construction and operational phases of any development, such as a subdivision" says Weber.
To assist with implementation, specific Water Quality Objectives (WQO's) have been developed for all of the City's waterways. These WQO's have become the "goal posts" for performance criteria within the Brisbane City Plan. Tony Weber believes that "without WQO's, there would be no underlying driver for implementing stormwater management solutions through the development processes'.
In addition, the Model Urban Stormwater Quality Management Plans and Guidelines have been developed by the Queensland Environment Protection Agency to assist local governments in managing stormwater and protecting Queensland's waterways as required by section 42 of Environmental Protection (Water) Policy 1997. They provide a step-by-step approach to assist councils to develop local plans. The model plan and guidelines recognise the identification and protection of the environmental values of a given watercourse. These values could range from aquatic ecosystem maintenance; recreation and aesthetics; primary industry; drinking water; industrial water; and cultural and spiritual values.
For further information contact the Local Government Unit, Environmental Operations Division, Environmental Protection Agency on (Ph) 07 3227 8341 or email stormwater@env.qld.gov.au.
For further information on Brisbane City Councils Water Quality Guidelines phone 07 3403 8888, email swpoq@brisbane.qld.gov.au or Tony Weber on (Ph) 07 3831 6744, email trweber@wbmpl.com.au.
Stormwater provides the major pathway for toxicants, pathogens, litter, nutrients and sediment to enter Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay.
"Based on growth forecasts, nitrogen loads to Port Phillip Bay may increase by another 300 tonnes or 10% by 2006 if we do nothing" Chris Chesterfield, Melbourne Water.
Local rivers, streams and the Bay form a focal part of Melbourne life. Water quality of these assets is an issue of concern to many residents. Over the past 20 years much has been achieved to improve water quality by diverting wastes to sewers and improving the performance of sewage treatment plants. Now the biggest threat to Port Phillip's water quality comes when stormwater concentrates contaminants into the Bay.
Chris Chesterfield from Melbourne Water says 'with Melbourne's population predicted to increase by around 530,000 people over the next 20 years, increased urbanisation will cause a general deterioration in water quality if there is not a greater effort to combat diffuse sources of pollutants'.
In recognition of this problem, a reduction of nutrient loads to the bay of 1000 tonnes per year by 2006 has been established as a key outcome of the Port Phillip Bay State Environmental Protection Policy.
Half of this target is to be met through reductions from the Western Treatment Plant. The other half of this target is to be met by reducing nitrogen inputs accumulated from across the catchment area. Programs for achieving the targeted nutrient load reduction are currently being implemented . These programs recognise that protecting urban stormwater requires an integrated approach to managing the volume, rate and quality of stormwater runoff and the habitat required for a healthy aquatic community.
Water Sensitive Urban Design has been recognised as a necessary mechanism to help reduce the impact of growth on existing pollution loads.
For further information contact Chris Chesterfield on 03 9235 2115 or email to chris.chesterfield@melbournewater.com.au
Geographe Bay, with its sandy beaches, sheltered waters and extensive seagrass meadows, is a wonderful recreational haven two hundred kilometers south of Perth. Busselton Jetty stretches two kilometres over the Bay, forming an artificial reef that showcases the areas diverse marine life. The Bay and its catchment also have considerable ecological value.
Geographe Bay is fed by a number of rivers and drains, including the Vasse River which in summer can suffer from toxic algal blooms. Water quality in the Bay is adversely affected by influx of nutrients and sediment which threaten the biodiversity of the marine ecology.
A partnership between the Geographe Catchment Council and the Shire of Busselton, with support from the Commonwealth's Clean Seas Program, is addressing this problem.
The project showcases an integrated approach using structural works and community action to reduce nutrient loads. It focuses on urban and industrial areas discharging stormwater directly into waterways.
Stormwater management techniques have included construction of wetlands, revegetation and urban forestry, establishment of filter strips, grass swales, and trash racks. Sediment separator catchment ponds and 'first flush' basins are being investigated. These structural measures have been complemented by an extensive and ongoing "Clean Drains" awareness raising program.
Oxygenation techniques have also been trialed, monitored and evaluated as a potential tool to help reduce nutrient availability.
For further details about the project contact Robyn Paice, Water & Rivers Commission: on 08 9754 4331 or email robyn.paice@wrc.wa.gov.au.
Challenging traditional approaches and attitudes to Stormwater Management by developing Water Smart Model Planning Provisions
As Director of the Lower Hunter & Central Coast Regional Environment Management Strategy (LHCCREMS) since June 1996, Meredith Laing's role is to ensure that local Government has appropriate assistance, support and resources to efficiently develop and implement coordinated, regional environmental management initiatives such as their Urban Water Cycle Management (UWCM) Program.
The Program was designed primarily to raise the capacity of Councils and Catchment Managers in the region to understand, design, implement and monitor more sustainable approaches to water conservation and stormwater management. A significant component of this program has also been to develop a suite of planning tools such as the regional Model Planning Provisions (MPPs) and Water Smart Practice Notes (design guide). These provide a means for:
MPPs provide planners with a tool kit of planning instruments to facilitate urban development that is in harmony with the water cycle and natural environmental processes. Current research and contemporary thinking about the management of the urban water cycle is provided in a format that can be used by local councils and relevant Government bodies to update their regulatory frameworks.
In order to accommodate local conditions and existing frameworks, the MPPs are designed in a flexible and adaptable format, thus allowing this unique product to provide a planning tool that has broad based application across Australia. The UWCM program and these tools have won a range of state awards, and the federal Government has indicated interest in the MPPs as a basis for future national policy development.
Contact for more information on the Water Smart MPPs and Design Guide and the UWCM program contact Meredith Laing on: (02) 4962 0918, Email: remsdirector@hroc.org.au, Web site: www.lhccrems.nsw.gov.au.
The NSW Environment Protection Authority has been active in recent years in the development and application of economic instruments to address environment issues. Green offsets are one such tool designed to enable both economic development and environmental protection. Offsets allow development to achieve a net environmental improvement for relevant priority pollutants (at least compared to the outcome that would have occurred without the offset). Development continues, but not at the expense of the environment.
Green offsets are not a means by which developers can buy their way out of their environmental obligations. Developers will still be required to meet standard regulatory and planning requirements, and adopt all cost effective on-site measures to minimise environmental impacts. Under this proposal a development proponent could offset any 'residual' impact (such as predicted increase in pollutant load), by undertaking abatement actions, or funding others do to so.
Urban stormwater runoff from new developments is one of the issues that green offsets will address. Shane Barter from the NSW EPA says, "Offsets have been proposed in the Sydney drinking water catchments to assist appropriate new developments to have a neutral or beneficial effect on water quality under the relevant Regional Environmental Plan. Loads of nutrients and sediment from a development would be offset by in-kind or financial contributions to implement sustainable, abatement measures, including actions on non-urban land". The Green offset concept is also being piloted in the South Creek catchment.
For more details please refer to www.epa.gov.au/greenoffsets or contact Shane Barter from the EPA's Storm Water Unit on 02 9995-6067, barters@epa.nsw.gov.au, or Michele Weight (Regulatory Innovation) on 02 9995-6022.
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