Tweed Coast Estuaries Management Plan 2004 - 2008
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DRAFT Tweed Coast Estuaries Management Plan 2004 - 2008 Cudgen, Cudgera and Mooball Creeks May 2004 Prepared For Tweed Shire Council Prepared by North Coast: 70 Butler St Byron Bay 2481 Tel: (02) 66855466 Fax: (02) 66809406 [email protected] Draft Tweed Coast Estuaries Management Plan 2004 - 2008 Tweed Shire Council Executive Summary The Tweed Coast estuaries of Cudgen, Cudgera and Mooball Creeks, situated south of the Tweed River mouth between Kingscliff and Wooyung, are small barrier estuaries, highly regarded by the local communities, with substantial productivity and biodiversity values. The 1997 Estuary Management Plan began a formal long-term management phase for the three systems. Implementation of the recommendations has been reliant on funding and support. The Plan has provided a good basis for the next phase of managing the three estuaries of Cudgen, Cudgera and Mooball Creeks, with a number of projects underway. This Draft Estuary Management Plan integrates the conclusions of the Review of Implementation of the 1997 Plan, a summary of documents, policies and significant developments around the estuaries since 1997, and the contributions of community members who attended the community consultation meetings. Healthy estuary ecosystems are those in which key processes are sustained, habitats remain intact, and human impacts do not cause further deterioration. This Draft Plan embraces the long-term vision of healthy, productive and attractive estuaries that can be resilient to all types of responsible land uses and possess healthy ecological and recreational values. This goal can be achieved through well-founded, cooperative and integrated management. Water quality management is critical to sustainable overall management of the estuaries. The philosophical approach by the responsible authorities now is to focus on issues, not numbers. Water quality guidelines should be used to help achieve management goals and maintain values. This Draft Plan proposes the adoption of the Tweed River Water Quality Objectives for the three coastal estuaries. General strategies are proposed for the protection, maintenance, rehabilitation, and enhancement of environmental values including water quality, entrance management, recreational aspects, and catchment management. Environmental management authorities strongly support the total catchment management plan approach in addressing non-point source pollution such as agricultural runoff. The main objectives of these plans should be set with the downstream aquatic environment in mind. Such plans require targeted monitoring and assessment for effectiveness. The concept includes the negotiation and statement of environmental quality goals, co-operative best management, and sharing of responsibility and costs. This approach has been carried through all the reports and recommendations of the NSW Healthy Rivers Commission, and is adopted by the Catchment Blueprint program. The Blueprint or Northern Rivers Integrated Catchment Management Plan 2002-2012 is supported as the best chance of achieving the vision of healthy waterways and estuaries through a consultative, science and community based approach to solving the challenges of estuary management. 2 Australian Wetlands Draft Tweed Coast Estuaries Management Plan 2004 - 2008 Tweed Shire Council Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................. 7 1.1 ESTUARY HEALTH ................................................................................................................7 1.2 ESTUARY MANAGEMENT PLANNING ...........................................................................................7 1.3 CUDGEN CREEK ...................................................................................................................8 1.4 CUDGEN LAKE.....................................................................................................................8 1.5 CUDGERA CREEK .................................................................................................................9 1.6 MOOBALL CREEK ............................................................................................................... 10 2 POLICY FRAMEWORK................................................................................................... 11 2.1 THE NSW COASTAL POLICY ................................................................................................. 11 2.2 COASTAL PROTECTION PACKAGE ............................................................................................ 11 2.2.1 Comprehensive Coastal Assessment .......................................................................... 11 2.2.2 SEPP 71 - Coastal Protection..................................................................................... 12 2.3 THE CATCHMENT BLUEPRINT................................................................................................. 12 2.4 SEPP 14 AND 26 .............................................................................................................. 13 2.5 HEALTHY RIVERS COMMISSION (HRC) COASTAL LAKES STRATEGY .................................................. 14 2.6 HRC NORTH COAST RIVERS ................................................................................................. 15 2.7 ECOLOGICALLY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................. 15 3 ESTUARINE PROCESSES ............................................................................................... 16 3.1 FUNCTION ....................................................................................................................... 16 3.2 NUTRIENTS ...................................................................................................................... 16 3.3 ENVIRONMENTAL FLOWS...................................................................................................... 18 3.4 FUTURE ESTUARY PROCESSES STUDY ...................................................................................... 19 4 WATER QUALITY........................................................................................................... 21 4.1 TWEED SHIRE COUNCIL MONITORING ..................................................................................... 21 4.1.1 Cudgen Estuary ....................................................................................................... 21 4.1.2 Cudgera Estuary...................................................................................................... 21 4.1.3 Mooball Estuary....................................................................................................... 22 4.2 WATER QUALITY OBJECTIVES................................................................................................ 22 4.3 RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................................... 25 5 MONITORING ............................................................................................................... 26 5.1 MONITORING PROGRAM....................................................................................................... 26 5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................................... 30 6 CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT.......................................................................................... 34 6.1 CUDGEN VEGETABLE GROWING AREA ...................................................................................... 34 6.2 RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................................... 35 7 STORMWATER............................................................................................................... 36 7.1 TWEED URBAN STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PLAN (1999)............................................................ 36 7.2 DEVELOPMENT CONTROL PLANS............................................................................................. 37 7.3 STORMWATER MANAGEMENT................................................................................................. 37 7.4 WATER SENSITIVE URBAN DESIGN ......................................................................................... 38 7.5 RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................................... 39 8 ACID SULPHATE SOILS (ASS)....................................................................................... 40 8.1 GENERAL STATUS OF ASS .................................................................................................... 40 8.2 COUNCIL PROGRAMS........................................................................................................... 44 8.3 RESTORING THE BALANCE .................................................................................................... 45 8.4 RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................................... 45 3 Australian Wetlands Draft Tweed Coast Estuaries Management Plan 2004 - 2008 Tweed Shire Council 9 SEWAGE MANAGEMENT................................................................................................ 46 9.1 HASTINGS POINT STP ........................................................................................................ 46 9.2 PROPOSED MOOBALL-BURRINGBAR STP..................................................................................