2016-07-12 - Item 14 - Att 1 - Effluent Disposal Planning Study

  The Great Barrier Reef is widely acknowledged as suffering adverse effects from differing
  causes that include land-based activities. Marine and coastal ecosystems can be damaged by
  poor water quality associated with sediment, nitrogen, phosphorus and pesticides from rural
  and urban sources, coastal development, marine activities and most significantly, climate
  change.

  This has led to the Australian government and Queensland government endorsing a Reef
  Water Quality Protection Plan in 2003 and its update in 2009 and 2013. This plan sets targets
  for improved water quality and actions to improve that quality particularly through land
  management practices. The Australian government has funded six regional plans to assist in
  achieving the desired outcome for the Great Barrier Reef. Of interest here is the Water Quality
  Improvement Plan for the Burnet Mary Region which includes the Mary Basin. This plan was
  prepared by the Burnett Mary Regional Group and consultants Natural Decisions.

  The Mary Basin at 930,000 ha is the second largest catchment within the Burnet Mary Region
  and poses the greatest risk within the region to coral reefs and seagrass through degraded
  water quality arising from sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus. Just over half of the catchment
  is used for grazing and it has the highest population and greatest area of urban land uses
  including the towns of Maryborough and Hervey Bay. The Water Quality Improvement Plan
  proposes three delivery mechanisms in the form of incentives (stewardship payments), skills
  development for landholders and further research. One of the research priorities is to
  “improve understanding of catchment hydrological processes and relationship between land
  management practices and water quality”.

  On-site effluent disposal systems are not highlighted in the Water Quality Improvement Plan.
  The main attention is to broad hectare grazing and the more significant urban settlements.
  However the concerns expressed about the Mary Basin’s adverse contributions to the health
  of the Great Barrier Reef and the expressed priority for further research into understanding
  catchment hydrological processes lend some small weight to the policy positions
  recommended in this planning study.




On-Site Effluent Disposal in Noosa Shire 2016                                              Page 10