Stanley River Environmental Values and Water Quality Objectives Basin No 143 (Part) Including All Tributaries of the River
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Environmental Protection (Water) Policy 2009 Stanley River environmental values and water quality objectives Basin No 143 (part) including all tributaries of the river July 2010 Prepared by: Water Quality & Ecosystem Health Policy Unit Department of Environment and Resource Management © State of Queensland (Department of Environment and Resource Management) 2010 The Department of Environment and Resource Management authorises the reproduction of textual material, whole or part, in any form, provided appropriate acknowledgement is given. This publication is available in alternative formats (including large print and audiotape) on request. Contact (07) 322 48412 or email <[email protected]> July 2010 Document Ref Number Main parts of this document and what they contain • Scope of waters covered Introduction • Key terms / how to use document (section 1) • Links to WQ plan (map) • Mapping / water type information • Further contact details • Amendment provisions • Source of EVs for this document Environmental Values • Table of EVs by waterway (EVs - section 2) - aquatic ecosystem - human use • Any applicable management goals to support EVs • How to establish WQOs to protect Water Quality Objectives all selected EVs (WQOs - section 3) • WQOs in this document, for - aquatic ecosystem EV - human use EVs • List of plans, reports etc containing Ways to improve management actions relevant to the water quality waterways in this area (section 4) • Definitions of key terms including an Dictionary explanation table of all (section 5) environmental values • An accompanying map that shows Accompanying WQ Plan water types, levels of protection and (map) other information contained in this document iii CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 WATERS TO WHICH THIS DOCUMENT APPLIES .............................................................................. 1 1.2 GUIDANCE ON USING THIS DOCUMENT ......................................................................................... 2 1.2.1 Key terms............................................................................................................................ 2 1.2.2 Main parts of this document................................................................................................ 4 1.2.3 Use of this document .......................................................................................................... 4 1.3 INFORMATION ABOUT MAPPED AREAS AND BOUNDARIES ............................................................... 4 1.4 WATER TYPES AND BASIS FOR BOUNDARIES ................................................................................ 5 1.4.1 Water types......................................................................................................................... 5 1.4.2 Water type boundaries........................................................................................................ 5 1.5 MATTERS FOR AMENDMENT ....................................................................................................... 6 2 ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES (EVS) ............................................................................................... 7 2.1 ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES .......................................................................................................... 7 2.2 MANAGEMENT GOALS TO SUPPORT EV S..................................................................................... 7 3 WATER QUALITY OBJECTIVES (WQOS) TO PROTECT ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES............ 9 3.1 WATER QUALITY OBJECTIVES (WQO S) TO PROTECT AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS ............................... 10 3.1.1 Physico-chemical WQOs .................................................................................................. 10 3.1.2 Biological WQOs............................................................................................................... 14 3.1.3 Riparian WQOs................................................................................................................. 15 3.1.4 Stormwater design objectives........................................................................................... 15 3.2 WATER QUALITY OBJECTIVES (WQO S) FOR HUMAN USE EV S .................................................... 15 4 WAYS TO IMPROVE WATER QUALITY ..................................................................................... 25 5 DICTIONARY................................................................................................................................. 26 List of Tables Table 1 Environmental values (EVs) for Stanley River catchment waters 8 Table 2 Water quality objectives to protect aquatic ecosystem environmental value (refer to Plan WQ1439 for location of waters) 11 Table 3 Aquatic ecosystem EV: Biological water quality objectives for freshwater streams (refer to Plan WQ1439 for location of streams) 14 Table 4 Water quality objectives to protect human use environmental values 16 Table 5 Primary contact recreation EV: Water quality objectives for management of cyanobacteria in contact recreation areas 18 Table 6 Aquaculture EV: Water quality objectives for tropical aquaculture 19 Table 7 Aquaculture EV: Water quality objectives for optimal growth of particular species in freshwater 19 Table 8 Aquaculture EV: Water quality objectives for optimal growth of particular marine species 20 Table 9 Irrigation EV: Water quality objectives for thermotolerant (faecal) coliforms in irrigation waters used for food and non-food crops 21 Table 10 Irrigation EV: Water quality objectives for heavy metals and metalloids in agricultural irrigation water – long-term trigger value (LTV), short-term trigger value (STV) and soil cumulative contamination loading limit (CCL) 22 Table 11 Stock watering EV: Water quality objectives for tolerances of livestock to total dissolved solids (salinity) in drinking water 23 Table 12 Stock watering EV: Water quality objectives (low risk trigger values) for heavy metals and metalloids in livestock drinking water 23 Table 13 Drinking water EV: Priority water qulity objectives for drinking water supply in the vicinity of off-takes, including groundwater, before treatment 24 Table 14 Suite of environmental values that can be chosen for protection 27 iv Stanley River environmental values and water quality objectives 1 Introduction This document is made pursuant to the provisions of the Environmental Protection (Water) Policy 2009 (the EPP [Water]), which is subordinate legislation under the Environmental Protection Act 1994 . The EPP (Water) provides a framework for: • identifying environmental values for Queensland waters, and deciding the water quality objectives to protect or enhance those environmental values; and • including the identified environmental values and water quality objectives under Schedule 1 of the EPP (Water). This document contains environmental values and water quality objectives for waters in the Stanley River catchment, and is listed under schedule 1 of the EPP (Water). 1.1 Waters to which this document applies This document applies to freshwater surface waters and groundwaters draining the Stanley River catchment, as indicated in the accompanying plan (WQ1439)1. These waters fall within the broader Brisbane basin (basin 143) 2. Waters covered by this document include: • Stanley River; • Lake Somerset; • Reedy Creek; • Kilcoy Creek; • Neurum Creek; • Stony Creek; • other freshwater waters in the Stanley River catchment; • wetlands; and • groundwaters. The geographical extent of waters addressed by this document is shown in the plan (WQ1439), and is broadly: • north to the boundary of the Stanley River catchment with the Mary River catchment; • west to the boundary with the Upper Brisbane River catchment; and • east to the boundaries of the Pine Rivers, Caboolture and Pumicestone catchments. 1This document and the accompanying plan are available in electronic form from the Environmental Values web page on the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) website : http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/ . The boundaries in the accompanying plan WQ1439 are indicative only. The water types and management intent depicted in the accompanying plan are stored in electronic form as part of the SEQ Environmental Values Schedule 1 Database July 2010 and held at the DERM offices at 41 George Street Brisbane. Database regions are based on the regions established in the Queensland water quality guidelines . For further information on accessing the database, please contact DERM by email at [email protected] . 2Australia’s River Basins 1997 – Product User Guide . Published by Geoscience Australia. Canberra, ACT (3 rd edition, 2004). 1 Stanley River environmental values and water quality objectives 1.2 Guidance on using this document 1.2.1 Key terms Key terms used in this document are explained below. Additional detail is provided in the dictionary at the end of the document: ADWG : means the Australian drinking water guidelines (2004), prepared by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in collaboration with the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council (NRMMC) 3. AWQG : means the Australian and New Zealand guidelines for fresh and marine water quality (October 2000), prepared by the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC) and the Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand (ARMCANZ) 4. Environmental