National Water Quality Management Strategy

Murray River at the Gulf.

Photo John Baker

The National Water Quality Management Strategy (NWQMS) provides a national approach to improving water quality in Australia's waterways. Development has progressed since 1992, the Australian Government working in cooperation with state and territory governments.

The NWQMS is part of the Australian Government's $12.9 billion investment in strategic programs, Water for the Future.

Participants in NWQMS are working to protect the nation's water resources by improving their quality, reducing pollutants and at the same time supporting the businesses, industry and communities that depend on water for their continued development.

The NWQMS has three major elements:

Policies
Process
Guidelines

A management framework is available via the Water quality management framework. One application of the NWQMS is Water Quality Improvement Plans.

Policies

The main policy objective of the NWQMS is to achieve sustainable use of the nation's water resources by protecting and enhancing their quality while maintaining economic and social development.

Process

The NWQMS process involves community and government development and implementation of a management plan for each catchment, aquifer, estuary, coastal water or other water body. This includes use of high-status national guidelines with local implementation.

Paper 3: Implementation guidelines - 1998

Better Water Workshops

An international services company, GHD, working in conjunction with Total Catchment Management Services, was engaged by the Department to deliver a series of National Water Quality Management Strategy (NWQMS) workshops across Australia from June 2008 to October 2008.

The workshops, known as the Better Water Workshop series, were held across 18 Natural Resource Management regions. The workshops were designed to support further implementation of the NWQMS by assisting regions to build their capacity in water quality management and establish, and build on existing networks with stakeholders in the region.

The GHD consultant team worked with regional Natural Resource Management organisations, river health coordinators, and state and territory agencies to identify key water quality issues, end user needs, and suitable case studies for inclusion in the workshop program. The workshops included participants from the entire spectrum of agencies and community and industry groups with a stake in improved water quality management.

Overall 310 participants attended the 18 Better Water Workshops. Stakeholder feedback and an overall evaluation of the Better Water Workshops are contained in the two volume Better Water Workshop Series Final Evaluation Report.

Documents outlining the process used to develop and implement the Better Water Workshop series are available from the publication The Better Water Workshop Series: Moving forward with the National Water Quality Management Strategy.

National guidelines

These guidelines have been released by the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council (NRMMC) and, in some cases, in collaboration with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Australian Health Ministers Conference.

Water quality benchmarks:

Paper 4: Australian and New Zealand guidelines for fresh and marine water quality - 2000 (also known as the ANZECC water quality guidelines)
Paper 6: Australian drinking water guidelines - 2004
Paper 7: Australian guidelines for water quality monitoring and reporting - 2000

Groundwater management:

Paper 8: Guidelines for groundwater protection - 1995

Diffuse and point sources:

Guidelines for Sewerage Systems:

Effluent Management:

Water recycling:

Note: we are currently preparing electronic versions of the missing guidelines. In the interim, you can order hard copy versions from the Australian Water Association .