Parramatta River Estuary Data Compilation and Review Study
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PARRAMAT TA RIVER ESTUARY DATA COMPILATION AND REVIEW STUDY Report Prepared for Parramatta City Council, Department of Environment and Climate Change & Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority: On behalf of the Parramatta River Estuary Management Committee July 2008 LJ2686/R2429 PARRAMATTA RIVER ESTUARY DATA COMPILATION AND REVIEW STUDY Cardno Lawson Treloar Pty Ltd ABN 55 001 882 873 Level 2, 910 Pacific Highway Gordon New South Wales 2072 Australia Telephone: 02 9499 3000 Facsimile: 02 9499 3033 International: +61 2 9499 3000 [email protected] www.cardno.com.au Report Copy No. …. Document Control Author Reviewer Version Status Date Name Initials Name Initials Tanja Mackenzie TJM 1 Draft April 2008 Emma Maratea ERM Louise Collier LCC Chris Thompson CPT Tanja Mackenzie TJM 2 Final Draft June 2008 Emma Maratea ERM Louise Collier LCC Chris Thompson CPT 3 Final July 2008 Tanja Mackenzie TJM Louise Collier LCC “This document is produced by Cardno Lawson Treloar Pty Ltd solely for the benefit of and use by the client in accordance with the terms of the retainer. Cardno Lawson Treloar Pty Ltd does not and shall not assume any responsibility or liability whatsoever to any third party arising out of any use or reliance by any third party on the content of this document. It is the responsibility of the reader to verify the currency of the version number of this report. All subsequent releases will be made directly to the Client. x Uncontrolled Document Parramatta City Council, DECC & Sydney Metro CMA July 2008 H:\Doc\2008\Reports.2008\Rep2429v3.doc Version 3 Page i PARRAMATTA RIVER ESTUARY DATA COMPILATION AND REVIEW STUDY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Parramatta River is the largest river Complex interactions occur within the estuary. entering Port Jackson. The river is tidal to the They are governed by a variety of factors Charles Street Weir in Parramatta, some 19 km including climate, creek morphology and upstream of the commencement of the river at bathymetry, tides, ocean conditions and the Balmain, or approximately 30 km from Sydney impacts of human intervention over time in both Heads. the catchment and the estuary. The diverse nature of estuarine processes results in the division of estuary management responsibilities between a number of government agencies. For example, the ownership and control of estuarine waterfront and submerged lands, is spread across a spectrum of private landholders, local councils, trustees, the Crown and other New South Wales Government authorities. The NSW Estuary Management Process endeavours to provide a process by which estuary management plans are produced such that they are entirely Parramatta River Estuary – Gladesville consistent with the tenets of integrated waterway Bridge (DECC, 2008) management and ecologically sustainable development. For the purpose of the Data Compilation Study, the study area encompasses the whole of the The Estuary Management Manual recommends Parramatta River Estuary, which comprises the an eight step process in order to implement an waterway, bays, foreshores and adjacent lands Estuary Management Plan. In accordance with of the Parramatta River and the tidal creeks, this policy, the Parramatta River Estuary extending from Parramatta Weir to Clarkes Management Committee (PREMC) was Point, Woolwich in the north and Yurilbin Point, established in 2006. This Data Compilation Birchgrove in the south (a straight line between Study report represents the second step in the the two which does not include the Lane Cove estuary management process, incorporating River which already has an Estuary some preliminary assessment of the compiled Management Plan). Consideration was also data. given to the wider areas of the catchment that were considered to influence the estuary. This data compilation study identified 672 data sources of which 402 have been directly There are eight local government areas with referenced in this document. A full list of the foreshore frontage in the study area. These are: data sources is provided in Appendix B. A summary of the key references is provided in Parramatta City Council LGA; Appendix C . The main findings of this Data Leichhardt Municipal Council LGA; Compilation Study have been categorised under Hunters Hill Council LGA; the following processes headings: City of Ryde Council LGA; City of Canada Bay Council LGA; Catchment Characteristics (including climate Ashfield Municipal Council LGA; and land use) Strathfield City Council LGA; and Urban Stormwater, Hydrology and Flood Auburn Council LGA. Behaviour Bathymetry and Estuary Sediments There are a further five local government areas Hydrodynamics within the catchment. These are: Water Quality Ecology Bankstown Council LGA; Human Usage and Recreation Baulkham Hills Council LGA; Cultural Heritage, Values and Significance. Blacktown City Council LGA; Burwood Council LGA; and Catchment Characteristics Holroyd Council. To understand the estuarine behaviour it is important to understand the impact of the catchment characteristics on the estuary. The Parramatta City Council, DECC & Sydney Metro CMA July 2008 H:\Doc\2008\Reports.2008\Rep2429v3.doc Version 3 Page ii PARRAMATTA RIVER ESTUARY DATA COMPILATION AND REVIEW STUDY catchment characteristics have been the catchment, or in association with summarised in terms of: creeklines. Land Use and Zoning: The Parramatta River Climate: Climate is a dominant factor in the catchment consists of numerous land uses behaviour of the estuary with rainfall, including residential, commercial, evaporation and solar radiation being environmental protection, education, significant contributors to the processes industrial, open space and recreation and occurring within the estuary. The climate of services, transport and communications. the catchment is summarised in general Land zoning, management and planning terms by a range of climatic indicators for within the Parramatta River Estuary is two BoM weather gauges located in governed by individual councils and proximity to the study area: Sydney Olympic moreover their Local Environmental Plans Park AWS (1995 – ongoing) and Parramatta (LEP). (1832 – 1960). The summary indicates that overall, the climate of the area is warm temperate, with wet humid summers and mild, dry winters. Topography: The principal topographic features of the lower Parramatta River Estuary Catchment are the low relief landscape along the river foreshores (less than 10mAHD in some areas), higher elevated areas along the ridgeline in the Baulkham Hills LGA (up to 120mAHD) and the steeper slopes to the north of the Parramatta River. DECC supplied 10m contour data for the entire catchment, several councils supplied more detailed contours data for individual LGAs. Recent Residential Development along the Geology: The main geological groups Foreshore (Breakfast Point, 28/11/2007) underlying the study area are Ashfield Shale, Bringelly Shale and Hawkesbury Sandstone. The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) provided geological mapping for the catchment. Soils: The prevalent soil landscape in the catchment is the Blacktown landscape which is Residual in character. The erosional soil types Luddenham and Glenorie are the next most prevalent soil landscapes. Fluvial soils are generally found along the line of the valley and river margins. Disturbed soils are also a feature of the study area. The risk of exposing acid sulfate soils (ASS) is common for Australian estuaries. However, this issue has been Heavy Industry – Upper Estuary (2007) exacerbated by the history of foreshore reclamations along the Parramatta River Land Ownership: The New South Wales Estuary. Soil mapping and ASS mapping Government has a documented policy in was provided for the catchment. relation to access to the harbour and river Vegetation: The catchment has a long foreshores, including public access to history of urban development, with the intertidal lands where landowners have majority of this area having been cleared for absolute waterfronts but where the industrial and residential land uses. Due to waterfront is exposed at low tide. Moorings the heavily urbanised nature of the and jetties are the responsibility of NSW catchment, the extent of native vegetation is Maritime, who is also responsible for the limited. Small, isolated pockets of management of the Harbour and river vegetation are scattered throughout the seabed in conjunction with the Department catchment. The majority of the native of Lands. Within the study area there is vegetation is located in the northern part of Parramatta City Council, DECC & Sydney Metro CMA July 2008 H:\Doc\2008\Reports.2008\Rep2429v3.doc Version 3 Page ii PARRAMATTA RIVER ESTUARY DATA COMPILATION AND REVIEW STUDY approximately 46.6 km of public foreshore Bathymetry and Estuary Sediments and 24.85 km of private foreshore. Bathymetric data was supplied for the estuary from DECC and NSW Maritime. It is apparent Urban Stormwater, Hydrology and Flood that the deepest sections of the Parramatta Behaviour River Estuary are in the main channel and that Climate conditions and topographic features the embayments are much shallower. Upstream dominate the hydrology of the catchment. Water of Yaralla Bay the estuary shallows significantly. extraction can also have impacts on the Also apparent are areas above 0 mAHD that will catchment hydrology. Water extraction occurs be exposed over some portions of the tidal from the groundwater in the catchment and cycle. These areas are located primarily in directly from the