2017-01-16 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                        16 JANUARY 2017


Non-statutory activities      Details
Seagrass and mangrove         This program was launched by the Noosa Integrated Catchment Association
monitoring in the Noosa       (NICA) in 2006 and it is part of an international scientific program initiated in
River.                        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 nitrogen
of high nitrogen              levels in Lake Cootharaba. The lake sediments contain a huge pool of nitrogen
concentrations in Lake        which is released through sediment porewater mixing and wind driven
Cootharaba (flagged as a      resuspension. The study took a closer look at how sediments and nutrients are
result of the annual health   delivered to and cycled within the Lake. Findings of the study revealed the
assessments).                 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 natural waters
Catchment Modeling            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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