BURDEKIN REGION Burdekin catchment water quality targets

Cape Richards Catchment profile Hinchinbrook Island Britomart

He Cape Reef rb Trunk e Cardwell Sandwich iver rt Reef Under the Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan, water quality n R R ki iver rde Lucinda Great targets have been set for each catchment that drains to the Great u B Macknade Palm Barrier Reef. These targets (given over the page) consider land use and Trebonne Ingham Island South East Cape pollutant loads from each catchment. Burdekin Toobanna Forest Palm Island Catchment Beach 2 The Burdekin catchment covers 130,120 km (93% of the Burdekin Magnetic Island Greenvale Jalloonda Pallarenda Darley region). Rainfall averages 633 mm a year, which results in river Cleveland Cape Cleveland Deeragun Bay r Cape Woora Reef iv e discharges to the coast of about 9234 GL each year. R Cape Bowling Green Cape Bowling Old k e Townsville Bay Cla r Ferguson Green Reef U p p e r B u r d e k i n Net Giru Ayr Reef The extensive area of the Burdekin catchment is divided up into five S u b - c a t c h m e n t Rita Island er Brandon iv Home Hill Block R k major sub-catchments. The extent of the Burdekin catchment ranges t e l Cr e Peters Cape Upstart Hook Reef a am Clare a s ingh Island Reef from the upper tributaries of the Burdekin River in the north (behind B All Dalrymple Mingela k Cape Edgecumbe Bowen Hook the coastal ranges north-west of Townsville), to the west and south- ree B h C og Cape Island lwort ie Merinda Lo River GloucesterGloucester Whitsunday westerly reaches of the Cape and Belyando river sub-catchments Charters Island Island Towers Airlie and the southernmost reaches of the Suttor and Bowen rivers sub- Cannonvale Bax C Thalanga am Reef catchments. With the exception of the Bowen River, the Burdekin River pa r Proserpine Shaw Island Cape Lachlan spe R ive Collinsville sub-catchments converge above the Burdekin Dam to form Dalrymple Pentland Cape Conway

B Lake. Below the dam, the Burdekin River is met by the Bowen River, ow River Bloomsbury Torrens Creek en Scawfell B roken and then flows through the Lower Burdekin floodplains and Burdekin Hughenden R Island Rip i ve Cape Cay C er Bo we n r

delta to the coast. The catchment area is mostly used for agricultural ape Riv S

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t t Bo gie k o e purposes, principally grazing but with some intensive sugarcane in the C a p e C a m p a s p e r e Su b-catc hme nt r Walkerston R C S u b - c a t c h m e n t iv e a Mackay floodplains. There are two urban centres, Ayr and Home Hill, in the r t t se lower reaches and wetlands along the coast. Ro Sarina Beach Paul Reef Burdekin Sub-catchment Sarina B e E reek e Cape Middle Island a C glef C ield r Palmerston

e e Nebo Land uses in the Burdekin catchment k South Island Moranbah Carmila North Long Island Snake Point Is Isaac Sub-catchment (No 1) aa Cays Cays Cape The main land uses are grazing (92%), nature conservation (5%), and Log c Mangrove an Riv Cre e r B r o a d Island (No 1) Townshend k e r e e v dryland cropping (1%). e k k i Quail Island r Townshend e R S o u n d Leicester Island

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Muttaburra si Island Cape Clinton M Dysart Cape Manifold B e l y a n d o Clermont Marlborough S u b - c a t c h m e n t MiddleLegendmount M Aramac The r a e c k itzro s Tieri GBR WHAe boundary F Grazing a y Great Keppel Cre n River Yeppoon ek z (Wop-pa) Island

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e conservation Ý T h e r e s a C r e e k Keppel Sands Longreach C Z[ Dams and weirs Rockhampton Sugarcane o B Balaclava m S u b - c a t c h m e n t Cape Dryland e Cape Barcaldine p Gracemere HorticultureIsland (No 1) ly Blackwater Mangrove Capricorn Jericho a a

Ilfracombe n n Keppel

Alpha i d cropping o Emerald Dingo Mount Morgan o Seagrass CBananaasuarina Curtis Island

n Balaclava C Bluff R C Island Facing Island i o Island (No 2) Water r v e e m CatchmentDuaringa Dairy r e D

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go Landuse C e e Other k No im a n ll id Other Bororen a o Baralaba k l Nature conservationsa e ee Isisford P C Cr Urban 0 30 60 90 B12la0ckall150 e r e Miriam Vale Forestry k Biloela Comet Sub-catchment Irrigated cropping Kilometres N o g o a S u b - c a t c h m e n t Thangool Moura Banana C:\WORKING\3_WORK\Nyssa\GBR catchments map_A4P_v03_Jeremy_Edit_Burdekin.mxd Page of 23 August 2017 2025 water quality targets and priorities Modelled water quality pollutant loads The Burdekin catchment is the second largest contributor of anthropogenic dissolved inorganic nitrogen loads End-of-catchment anthropogenic load reductions Pesticides in the region, and is one of the five highest contributors of the 35 catchments that drain to the Great Barrier required from 2013 baseline Reef. Most dissolved inorganic nitrogen comes from sugarcane.

Dissolved inorganic Fine sediment Particulate Particulate The Burdekin catchment is the largest contributor of anthropogenic fine sediment loads of the 35 catchments nitrogen (DIN) phosphorus (PP) nitrogen (PN) that drain to the Great Barrier Reef. It delivers more than double the loads of any other region. Most comes from gully erosion in grazing areas. Independent sediment-tracing studies indicate that the Bowen and Upper To protect at least Burdekin sub-catchments have sediment erosion rates that are much greater than the long-term natural 60% 30% 30% 30% 99% geological rates: 7.5 times greater in the Bowen, and 3.6 times greater in the Upper Burdekin. 100 tonnes 840 kilotonnes 440 tonnes 720 tonnes of aquatic species at the end of catchment Dissolved inorganic nitrogen

The 2025 targets aim to reduce the amounts of fine sediments, nutrients Water quality (nitrogen and phosphorus) and pesticides flowing to the reef. Each relative priority target for sediment and nutrients is expressed as: (a) the percentage load reduction required compared with the 2013 estimated load Very high Sugarcane Dryland of each pollutant from the catchment; and (b) the load reductions cropping High required in tonnes. Progress made since 2013 will count towards these rrigated cropping targets. Previously reported progress between 2009 and 2013 has Moderate Most anthropogenic dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) loads come already been accounted for when setting the targets. The pesticide from sugarcane, dryland cropping and irrigated cropping areas. Urban target aims to ensure that concentrations of pesticides at the end of Low Horticulture each catchment are low enough that 99% of aquatic species are Minimal 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. Fine sediment 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 independent report, the 2017 Scientific Consensus Statement. The priorities reflect scientific assessment of the likely risks of pollutants damaging coastal and marine ecosystems. razing Streambank Dryland erosion cropping Forestry Most anthropogenic fine sediment loads come from grazing and Sugarcane streambank erosion areas. Irrigated cropping

Types of sediment erosion

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ully Hillslope Streambank

Most sediment erosion comes from gullies and hillslopes reefplan.qld.gov.au in the Burdekin catchment.