Meeting papers

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING                                                   11 JULY 2023


5.8     INTEGRATED WATER QUALITY MONITORING PROGRAM - BURGESS CREEK


Author              Environment Officer (Rivers and Coast), Sophie Blond
                    Environmental Services Department
Index               Subject / 21.34 - Waterways
Attachments         1.   Unitywater Burgess Creek REMP 2022 Annual Review (A7703347)


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report provides a summary of actions that Noosa Council has taken to address two Notified
Motions from June and December 2022 from Cr Lorentson regarding the Noosa Wastewater
Treatment Plant (STP) which include:
      1. The formation of a Burgess Creek Working Group to develop a Burgess Creek Integrated
         Catchment Management Plan Project Initiation Document (PID).
      2. Establishment of an interagency working group and Confidentiality Deed with Unitywater to
         share information and data about Burgess Creek and catchment.
      3. A University of Sunshine Coast (UniSC) and Noosa Council partnership project to investigate
         erosion and flow at Burgess Creek.
It also addresses a Council Resolution for the development of a citizen science program focusing on
monitoring of run-off as part of Council’s Integrated Water Quality Monitoring Program.

This report closes off both of the above Notice of Motions, except for water discharge volumes in the
Burgess Creek Catchment which would require further investigation.
RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Environment Officer – Rivers & Coast to the Planning &
Environment Committee Meeting dated 11 July 2023 and:

      A. Note staff will continue liaising with Unitywater regarding the Burgess Creek STP data and
         aspects of Burgess Creek management;
      B. Continue scoping and development of a Burgess Creek Integrated Catchment Management
         Plan in partnership with Unitywater; and
      C. Note the continued development of Council’s Integrated Water Quality Monitoring Program
         including potential expansion to include additional monitoring sites and
      D. That this report responds to previous Council Notice of Motions.


REPORT
Scoping and Development of an Integrated Catchment Management Plan
An internal working group of staff within Noosa Council’s Environment Services, Climate Change,
and Environmental Health branches, and Infrastructure Division was established in June 2022 to
better understand and monitor the Burgess Creek Catchment. This has included ongoing
engagement with Unitywater, Natural Resource Management (NRM) groups, community Bushland
Care groups, and the University of the Sunshine Coast.

The Burgess Creek Catchment is impacted by contaminant sources other than the Unitywater STP,
as seen in Figure 1 below. These include, but are not limited to, decommissioned landfills and rapid
infiltration basins, night soil disposal areas, residential run-off, run-off from a golf course, stormwater




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