2017-07-11 P&E Agenda - Attachment 1 to Item 8 - Investigation into Stormwater Pollution from Noosa's Industrial Activities

4. Conclusion
There were a total of 132 businesses inspected during this project in the Noosa Shire area. As the
results show the motor vehicle workshops make up 47% of the non-compliant businesses, followed
by fuel stations (17%), marine repairs (7%), wood production (5%), and concrete batching plants
(4%). The overall results show while concrete batching is only 4% of the total, their impact is more
important as there are only 3 plants in operation in the Shire and all three were non-compliant. Water
sampling results did show that cement was most likely the cause of some of the stormwater pollution.
Wood production also showed as a problem, but in relation to stormwater pollution the non-
compliance issues were minor in relation to stormwater contamination.

The feedback that was received from the businesses was positive and the majority of businesses
couldn’t understand why the ERA inspections had ceased and were glad to have Council again
reviewing what was happening in the area to prevent pollution of the waterways. There were a few
comments made about certain operators in the industrial area that were known for their not so
environmentally friendly operations and it was discovered that these particular businesses were no
longer in operation.

With the feedback received and the results from the project, the introduction of a reasonably priced
license / registration and inspection program on troublesome businesses such as motor vehicle
workshops, fuel stations and concrete batching plants should be introduced under the prescribed
activity area of local laws.




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