Meeting papers

                                                                                      Burgess Creek
                                                 Receiving Environment Monitoring Program
                                                                                 Annual Review 2022
6.0 Discussion
This review presents the results of the Burgess Creek REMP for the 2021 calendar year and
provides an assessment of the influence of Noosa STP discharge on the receiving
environment. Specifically, this annual review ensures that the compliance obligations with the
requirements of condition G13 of the EA. Observations and comments remain consistent with
previous assessments and continuous improvement is being made to better identify trends
and provide recommendations for the Burgess Creek Receiving Environment Monitoring
Program.

During the 2021 review period, 0 non-compliances were recorded for treated wastewater
releases from the Noosa STP in association with the conditions imposed by the EA. This is
the third year in which this review is tracking non-compliance with water quality characteristic
release limits. Future reviews will track, identify trends and comment on compliance of the
Noosa STP releases with water quality characteristic release limits.

The State of the Climate 2022 Report from the Bureau of Meteorology (2022) presents a
coherent depiction of persistent, gradual climate change intertwined with inherent natural
fluctuations, established through observations, reconstructions, and climate modelling. This
interaction has resulted in alterations in extreme weather and climate conditions, including
extreme heat, heavy rainfall, coastal inundation, fire, and drought, which have had a significant
impact on the health and prosperity of both human communities and ecosystems. These
observations align with previous assessments of the Burgess Creek Catchment, which
identified precipitation and related water flows as the primary determinant of water quality
conditions in the area.

In 2021, the total rainfall was significantly lower than the previous year by 401mm and lower
than the average of the past 10 years by 158mm. This decrease in rainfall has been observed
throughout the south-east region of Australia since the late 1990s, where a reduction of around
10 per cent in April to October rainfall has been noticed. Although, it has also been noted that
there has been an increase in the intensity of heavy rainfall events in Australia, which occur
in less than a day. These events have increased by 10 per cent or more in some regions,
particularly in the northern part of the country (Bureau of Meteorology, 2022).

Furthermore, around 60 per cent of hydrologic reference stations across Australia have
reported a decreasing trend in streamflow (Bureau of Meteorology, 2022). This was also the
case at monitoring site B8, where only 3 out of 12 sampling events could be conducted,
marking the least number of samples collected since its establishment in 2015. This site is


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