WET TROPICS REGION Mulgrave-Russell catchment water quality targets Catchment profile Oyster Reef Vlasoff Legend Cay Under the Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan, water quality Upolu !(T Sewage treatment plant (STP) Irrigated cropping Cay targets have been set for each catchment that drains to the Great T r i n i t y B a y (B Sugar mill Dryland cropping Barrier Reef. These targets (given over the page) consider land use and Arlington Mangrove Sugarcane Reef Seagrass Horticulture pollutant loads from each catchment. Flynn Catchment Reef Banana Clifton Beach Highways Dairy The Mulgrave-Russell catchment covers 1983 km2 (9% of the Wet ! Green Trinity Bay Island Secondary roads Urban and other intensive uses Tropics region). Rainfall averages 3239 mm a year, which results in river Reef Milln Reef ! Trinity Beach Landuse Mining discharges to the coast of about 4243 GL each year. Thetford Stream/water inc. dams er Nature conservation iv ! Reef ron R Bar Kuranda Other ! Yorkeys Knob Forestry The Mulgrave-Russell catchment sits in the central section of the Wet Clo h Grazing e Holloways s Tropics region, located along the coastal plain south of Cairns. The y Beach Pellowe R ! iv False Cape Cape Grafton Reef catchment is divided into two major sub-catchments that join together e North r Mission Moore Reef West close to the coast, the Mulgrave River in the north and the Russell Bay Reef ! Cairns River in the south, and a number of smaller creeks that flow into Trinity Fitzroy k e Island Elford Reef e Inlet or directly to the coast. The upper catchment is in the relatively r C r t e Admiralty Channel undisturbed rainforest environments of the Bellenden Ker Range. A a Sudbury w Reef h !(T Island res Cay small portion of the upper catchment is on the edge of the developed F B a r r o n C a t c h m e n t ! Sudbury agricultural area of the Atherton Tableland. The lowland reaches ! Hervey White Rock T Reef !( Shoals of the two catchments flow through the floodplains of a river valley (No 1) (North) dominated by sugarcane farms. The northern section of the Mulgrave- ! Hervey Russell includes the city of Cairns and Trinity Inlet. Edmonton Shoals (South) Eme raldC re ek Scott Reef !(B!(T Gordonvale ! Maori Reef Noggin Land uses in the Mulgrave-Russell catchment Reef k e e r The main land uses are nature conservation (72%), sugarcane (13%), C a M n Flora a u h and water (4%). lg Reef Coates r e av e B Reef R ! iv Tolga ! Kairi e r r ive 0% 20 40 60 80 100 R r l ive l R e n s o s Hedley rr u a R B Reef ! ! Jackson Atherton M u l g r a v e - R u s s e l l Yungaburra Patches McCulloch C a t c h m e n t Gibson Reef (No 1) Reef Nature conservation Sugarcane Water !(T Grazing Babinda ! ! Urban Malanda Dairy Howie Reef Other Mirriwinni ! Johnstone C atchment Horticulture N o R rth uss k J e el r re o l iv e Forestry h R n C n ir ra s D t o Bananas n Cayley e R 0 5 10 15 20 25 ive Peart Reef Reef Irrigated cropping Millaa r Flying ! Millaa Fish Point Kilometres ! ! S:\OGBR\d170612 GBR catchments map\GBR catchments map_A4P_v03.mxd Page 11 of 35 31 July 2017 2025 water quality targets and priorities Modelled water quality pollutant loads Of the Wet Tropics catchments, the Mulgrave-Russell contributes the third largest loads of anthropogenic End-of-catchment anthropogenic load reductions Pesticides dissolved inorganic nitrogen and fine sediment from sugarcane. The Mulgrave-Russell is also one of the five required from 2013 baseline highest contributors for dissolved inorganic nitrogen of all catchments draining to the Great Barrier Reef. Dissolved inorganic Fine sediment Particulate Particulate nitrogen (DIN) phosphorus (PP) nitrogen (PN) To protect at least Dissolved inorganic nitrogen 70% 10% 10% 10% 99% 300 tonnes 16 kilotonnes 19 tonnes 53 tonnes of aquatic species at the end of catchment The 2025 targets aim to reduce the amounts of fine sediments, nutrients Water quality Sugarcane rban Sewage treatment (nitrogen and phosphorus) and pesticides flowing to the reef. Each relative priority plant Other target for sediment and nutrients is expressed as: (a) the percentage Bananas Very high Most anthropogenic dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) loads come load reduction required compared with the 2013 estimated load Horticulture of each pollutant from the catchment; and (b) the load reductions from sugarcane, urban and sewage treatment plants. High Dairy required in tonnes. Progress made since 2013 will count towards these Forestry targets. Previously reported progress between 2009 and 2013 has Moderate already been accounted for when setting the targets. The pesticide Irrigated cropping target aims to ensure that concentrations of pesticides at the end of Low Dryland cropping each catchment are low enough that 99% of aquatic species are Minimal Fine sediment protected. The targets are ecologically relevant for the Great Barrier Reef, and are necessary to ensure that broadscale land uses have no Not assessed detrimental effect on the reef’s health and resilience. A high percentage reduction target may not necessarily mean it is the highest priority. The priorities (ranked by colour) reflect the relative risk assessment priorities for water quality improvement, based on an Sugarcane Streambank razing erosion independent report, the 2017 Scientific Consensus Statement. The Dairy priorities reflect scientific assessment of the likely risks of pollutants Urban damaging coastal and marine ecosystems. Most anthropogenic fine sediment loads come from sugarcane, Horticulture streambank erosion, grazing and dairy areas. Other Bananas Irrigated cropping Forestry Dryland cropping Types of sediment erosion 0% 100 Hillslope Streambank Gully Most sediment erosion comes from hillslopes and streambanks in the Mulgrave-Russell catchment. reefplan.qld.gov.au.