2018-07-10 P&E Agenda Attachment 1 to Item 8 - Draft Noosa River Plan

                                                    A F T
2.5
          D R
Ecosystem health
For the past 17 years, Noosa Council has been part of one of Australia’s most comprehensive freshwater,
estuarine and marine monitoring programs delivered by Healthy Land and Water (formerly Healthy
Waterways).
The monitoring program provides a regional health assessment of South East Queensland’s major
catchments, river estuaries and Moreton Bay zones in the form of an annual Report Card grade (A-F).
The program also quantifies, via a 1-5 star rating system, the level of social and economic benefits the
waterways provide to local communities and the people who live there (Healthy Land and Water, 2017).
Since 2001, the health rating for the Noosa River catchment has fluctuated between an A (excellent
condition) and B (good condition). These fluctuations are often linked to rainfall intensity and duration
each assessment year.
Freshwater creeks have better health ratings during a wet year, indicating a positive influence of high
water flows. In contrast, estuaries often have poorer grades in wet years, when significant quantities of
sediment and nutrients are washed down from the upper catchments.



Page 18 l Noosa River Plan