Annual Waterways Report
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Annual Waterways Report Pieman Catchment Water Assessment Branch 2009 ISSN: 1835-8489 Copyright Notice: Material contained in the report provided is subject to Australian copyright law. Other than in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968 of the Commonwealth Parliament, no part of this report may, in any form or by any means, be reproduced, transmitted or used. This report cannot be redistributed for any commercial purpose whatsoever, or distributed to a third party for such purpose, without prior written permission being sought from the Department of Primary Industries and Water, on behalf of the Crown in Right of the State of Tasmania. Disclaimer: Whilst DPIW has made every attempt to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information and data provided, it is the responsibility of the data user to make their own decisions about the accuracy, currency, reliability and correctness of information provided. The Department of Primary Industries and Water, its employees and agents, and the Crown in the Right of the State of Tasmania do not accept any liability for any damage caused by, or economic loss arising from, reliance on this information. Department of Primary Industries and Water Pieman Catchment Contents 1. About the catchment 2. Streamflow and Water Allocation 3. River Health 1. About the catchment The Pieman catchment drains a land mass of more than 4,100 km 2 stretching from about Lake St Clair in the Central Highlands west more than 90 km to Granville Harbour on the rugged West Coast of Tasmania. Major rivers draining the catchment are the Savage, Donaldson and Whyte rivers in the lower catchment, the Pieman, Huskisson rivers in the middle catchment and the Mackintosh, Murchison and Anthony rivers in the upper catchment. Some of the highest rainfall in Tasmania occurs in this catchment (annual rainfall throughout the catchment is between 1,500 – 2,500 mm), and this has led to significant hydro-electric development. Major impoundments have been constructed on the Pieman River (Lake Pieman and Lake Rosebery), and higher up on the Mackintosh, Murchison and Anthony rivers. The catchment also has a long history of mining; for iron ore at Savage River and for gold, copper, lead and zinc in the Rosebery area, and pollution from these activities continues to affect waterways in this catchment. Forest harvesting also occurs in the northern sections of the catchment, and all of the catchment above Lake Murchison and north to Cradle Mountain lies within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. DEPARTMENT of PRIMARY INDUSTRIES and WATER - 2 - 2. Streamflow and Water Allocation Streamflow There are no streamflow monitoring stations maintained in the Pieman River catchment as part of DPIW’s state-wide monitoring. Water Allocation The Pieman River catchment had a total of 21,284 ML in licensed allocations for 2008. The following table shows the breakdown of the allocations. Total Allocation (ML) Irrigation - Stock & Domestic 8 Water supply 573 Mining 20,703 Of the total licensed water allocation within the catchment, 14 ML is held within constructed storages and 21,270 ML is taken directly from rivers and streams. Water Use Restrictions There are no water restriction triggers in existence for the Pieman River catchment. - 3 - 3. River Health Heazlewood River at Waratah Road The Australian River Assessment This site is located at the Waratah Road bridge System (AUSRIVAS) is a crossing approximately 7 Kilometres west of the standardised national system for township of Luina. assessment of river condition that uses benthic The Heazelwood River at this point is 8 to 11 macroinvertebrates. metres wide and consists of fast flowing riffles and runs flowing over boulder/cobble substrate. The AUSRIVAS models predict Riparian vegetation is dominated by native heath the aquatic macroinvertebrate and mixed forest which is in an undisturbed state fauna that would be expected to with the exception of the now disused occur at a site in the absence of picnic/recreational area immediately downstream of environmental stress such as the road crossing. No weed or exotic species have pollution, habitat degradation or been noted at this site to date. flow regulation. A comparison of the macroinvertebrates expected Water quality at the site is generally good with all to occur at the test site with physio-chemical water quality parameter within those actually collected (O/E expected ranges for a river of natural condition. ratio) provides a site specific Combined season AUSRIVAS assessments of the measure of the biological riffle habitat and the edgewater habitat indicate impairment of the test site. that the macroinvertebrate fauna is similar to that Further details about AUSRIVAS expected under reference conditions (Band A) or can be found at: above (Band X). www.ausrivas.canberra.edu.a u/ausrivas Name Season O/E Taxa Band O/E Taxa Band AUSRIVAS assessments are Riffle Edgewater carried out at two locations in the Heazlewood River Spr03/ Au04 1.1 A 1.21 X Pieman River catchment; at Waratah Road Spr04/ Au05 1.19 X 1.22 X Spr05/ Au06 1.09 A 1.09 A • Heazlewood River at Waratah Spr06/ Au07 1.15 X 1.1 A Road; and Spr07/ Au08 1.1 A NS Auo8/ Spr08 1.18 X NS • Whyte River upstream of Luina. 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 O/E Taxa O/E 0.4 Riffle 0.2 Edgewater 0 Spr03/ Au04 Spr04/ Au05 Spr05/ Au06 Spr06/ Au07 Spr07/ Au08 Auo8/ Spr08 Season Fig: Combined season AUSRIVAS O/E Taxa scores Fig: Heazlewood River at for the Heazlewood River at Waratah Road. Waratah Road. - 4 - Whyte River upstream of Luina This site is located upstream of the Waratah Road crossing at the tin mining township of Luina. The river is approximately 6 to 8 metres wide and consists of a shallow riffle/run flowing over pebble/cobble substrate. The riparian zone though reduced in width by the road and township is predominantly native with minor cover by blackberries and overall displays little disturbance. Rehabilitation of Luina and areas Fig: Whyte River upstream of Luina. impacted by mining is in progress through the ‘Aberfoyle Resources Revegetation Project’. Mineral Name Season O/E Taxa Band O/E Taxa Band exploration on the west coast is Riffle Edgewater currently reviewing the potential Whyte River Spr94/ Au95 0.99 A 1.03 A for reopening the Cleveland tin us Luina Spr95/ Au96 0.92 A 1.07 A Au97/ Spr97 1.07 A 1.01 A mine at Luina with estimated ore Au98/ Spr98 1.14 X 1.03 A reserves of around 2 million Au99/ Spr99 1.08 A 1.09 A tonnes. Au00/ Spr00 1.12 A NS Au01/ Spr01 1.11 A 1.1 A This site has been sampled Au02/ Spr02 1.18 X 1.1 A continuously since spring 1994. Au03/ Spr03 1.04 A 1.16 X Since spring 1994, the combined Spr03/ Au04 1.13 X 1.14 A season AUSRIVAS assessments Spr04/ Au05 1.13 X 1.16 X Spr05/ Au06 1.17 X 1.09 A of the riffle habitat have Spr06/ Au07 1.15 X 1.08 A consistently classified this site as Spr07/ Au08 1.12 A NS equivalent to reference (Band A) Auo8/ Spr08 1.12 A NS or above (Band X). Combined season AUSRIVAS assessments of the edgewater 1.4 habitat have also consisitently 1.2 classified the site as equivalent to reference (Band A) or above 1 (Band X). A combined season assessment of the edgewater 0.8 habitat was not possible for 0.6 autumn 2000/ spring 2000 as Taxa O/E high flows during spring 2000 0.4 prevented the collection of an Riffle edgewater sample. 0.2 Edgewater 0 Spr94/ Au97/ Au99/ Au01/ Au03/ Spr04/ Spr06/ Auo8/ Au95 Spr97 Spr99 Spr01SeasonSpr03 Au05 Au07 Spr08 Fig: Combined season AUSRIVAS O/E Taxa scores for the Whyte River upstream of Luina - 5 - .