2016-02-02 Planning & Organisation Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                       2 FEBRUARY 2016


     Statutory activities
   Point source emissions – under the EP Act, activities with the potential to release
     contaminants into the environment are referred to as environmentally relevant
     activities (ERAs). These often involve a discharge or outflow from an identifiable
     location due to industrial or intensive agricultural activities such as chemical
     manufacturing, cement manufacturing, poultry farming, sewage treatment etc.
   Urban diffuse emissions – under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009, State interest
     regarding water quality seeks to ensure EVs and WQOs are protected and enhanced
     by:
      Integrating the State interest regarding water quality into planning schemes.
      Requiring urban development (e.g. residential, commercial and industrial) be
        located, designed, constructed and/or managed in ways that avoid/minimise
        water quality impacts.
      Adopting applicable stormwater management design objectives relevant to the
        climatic region and demonstrating current best practice environmental
        management.
      Supporting local governments in developing innovative and locally appropriate
        solutions for urban stormwater management.
      Addressing impacts on EVs and WQOs in water supply catchments.
     Non-statutory activities
   Rural activities (i.e. rural diffuse emissions) – under the Environment Protection
     (Water) Policy, governments and communities pursue adoption of Best Management
     Practices (BMP) for rural activities to improve rural land management. This approach
     covers a wide range of farm management and production issues, with soil health,
     grazing land management and use of fertilisers and chemicals directly relevant to
     water quality improvement. In some instances producers and industry organisations
     (e.g. AgForce) who adopt BMPs are supported through extension and education
     programs.
   Other non-statutory activities – supported under the Environment Protection (Water)
     Policy include:
      Development of regional natural resource management plans and healthy waters
        management plans to guide and prioritise investment in works to protect EVs
        and WQOs.
      Water quality monitoring and aquatic ecosystem report card programs which
        provide a benchmark against which water quality health can be compared.
      Commitments to the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan 2013 which set regional
        and subregional water quality and management action targets.

3.   Are we doing enough to protect EVs and WQOs?
The 2015 Healthy Waterways Report Card highlighted that since monitoring of South East
Queensland’s waterways began in 2000, reducing point source emissions (i.e. nutrients) had
been a key focus.
Over the intervening years, point source emissions have improved significantly and are now
a reduced pressure on SEQs natural waters that continue to be managed. This reduction in
emissions can be directly attributed to the upgrade of Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) in
many local government areas. These upgrades have reduced nutrients and improved the
quality of treated effluent discharged to natural waters.



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