2016-02-02 Planning & Organisation Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                   2 FEBRUARY 2016


Seagrass and mangrove         This program was launched by the Noosa Integrated Catchment
monitoring in the Noosa       Association (NICA) in 2006 and it is part of an international scientific
River.                        program initiated in Australia in 1998 called Seagrass Watch.
                              Approximately 15 sites in the lower estuary are assessed each year by
                              volunteers. Council supports this program through the Community Grants
                              Program & receives annual monitoring reports.
Frog monitoring               The Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee (MRCCC)
                              coordinate this program to determine the presence (or not) of threatened
                              frog species in riparian areas. The rare frog species surveyed included
                              the Giant Barred Frog, Cascade Tree Frog and the Tusked Frog.
                              Information from monitoring provides an indication of the quality of
                              stream habitat, enabling on-ground works to be targeted and threatened
                              species habitat to be protected and conserved.
Investigative monitoring      This investigation was sparked by community concerns about the high
of high nitrogen              nitrogen levels in Lake Cootharaba. The lake sediments contain a huge
concentrations in Lake        pool of nitrogen which is released through sediment porewater mixing
Cootharaba (flagged as a      and wind driven resuspension. The study took a closer look at how
result of the annual health   sediments and nutrients are delivered to and cycled within the Lake.
assessments).                 Findings of the study revealed the conversion of in-sediment total organic
                              nitrogen (TN) to dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) was the main driver of
                              elevated water column DIN in the lake. It also confirmed that the Upper
                              Noosa River delivers a higher volume but carries lower nutrient, sediment
                              and coliform loan than Kin Kin Creek. Because of the lake’s size position
                              in the catchment, it fulfils a range of ecosystem services that protect the
                              health of the Lower Noosa River. The basin acts as an efficient trap for t
                              sediment and pollutant inputs, and plays an important role in increasing
                              water residence time which allows for greater microbial processing of
                              pollutant loads. Whereas other catchments have dams, weirs or
                              impoundments, Noosa has Lake Cootharaba, and to a lesser extent Lake
                              Cooroibah, absorbing sediment and nutrient naturally, for free.

eWater Source                 eWater Source is a predictive tool used to indicate the resilience of
Catchment Modeling            natural waters to absorb more development while theoretically
                              maintaining EVs and WQOs. The software provides a framework for
                              modelling the amounts of water and contaminants flowing through a
                              catchment and into major rivers, wetlands, lakes, or estuaries.

                              Scenarios can include actual or planned changes in land use, land
                              management, climate variability and climate change e.g. eWater Source
                              can be used to understand issues such as:
                              - quantity and quality of rainfall-driven runoff and groundwater
                                  reaching streams in the catchment under present conditions;
                              - alterations made to quantity and quality of runoff by climate
                                  variability, different land uses, or riverbank restoration – now, or in
                                  the future;
                              - optimal locations for on-ground work to maximise water quality
                                  improvement;
                              - impacts of bushfire, flood, drought, construction activity or water
                                  extractions on the quality of receiving waters; and
                              - the effect of land use change on water quality and quantity into
                                  receiving waters.

                              Healthy Waterways will rely heavily on the eWater model for future
                              annual River Health Report Cards.




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