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Environmental Flow Response and Socio-Economic Monitoring South Coast - Progress Report 2010

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Environmental Flow Response and Socio-Economic Monitoring South Coast - Progress Report 2010 Environmental flow response and socio-economic monitoring South Coast - progress report 2010 Sydney Canberra Bega Publisher: NSW Office of Water Eden A division of the NSW Department of Primary Industries Level 18, 227 Elizabeth Street GPO Box 3889 Sydney NSW 2001 T 02 8281 7777 F 02 8281 7799 [email protected] www.water.nsw.gov.au The NSW Office of Water manages the policy and regulatory frameworks for the state’s surface water and groundwater resources, to provide a secure and sustainable water supply for all users. It also supports water utilities in the provision of water and sewerage services throughout New South Wales. Environmental flow response and socio-economic monitoring South Coast - progress report 2010 February 2012 South Coast ISBN 978 0 7313 3985 3 © State of New South Wales through the Department of Trade and Investment, Regional Infrastructure and Services, 2012. This material may be reproduced in whole or in part for educational and non-commercial use, providing the meaning is unchanged and its source, publisher and authorship are clearly and correctly acknowledged. Disclaimer: While every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that this document is correct at the time of publication, the State of New South Wales, its agents and employees, disclaim any and all liability to any person in respect of anything or the consequences of anything done or omitted to be done in reliance upon the whole or any part of this document. NOW 11_364 What is the purpose of this report? ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 4 Why do we need to monitor water sharing plans? ���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 4 What water sharing plans are currently in place? ����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 5 What has influenced the water sharing plans’ operations in 2009–10? ������������������������������������������ 6 What environmental issues are addressed by the water sharing plans? ������������������������������������������ 6 What ecological monitoring is occurring? ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 7 Which plan provisions are we monitoring? ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 9 What has ecological monitoring told us so far? ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 9 Socio-economic monitoring ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 10 What ecological monitoring is planned for 2010–11? ������������������������������������������������������������������������ 13 What socio-economic monitoring is planned for 2010–11? �������������������������������������������������������������� 13 What is planned for future water sharing plans? ������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 13 Future priority needs for ecological monitoring and evaluation activities on the South Coast ��������� 14 Want more information? �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 15 contents the South Coast Introduction What is thE PurPosE of Why do WE nEEd bell frog, Littlejohn’s tree frog, south this rEPort? to monitor WatEr bell frog and stuttering barred frog) This report provides an update sharing Plans? and eight bird species (Australasian on the monitoring and evaluation Water sharing plans provide water bittern, black bittern, black-tailed activities undertaken in 2009-10 to meet environmental and socio- godwit, comb-crested jacana, little to assess the ecological and economic needs, and spell out the tern, osprey, regent honeyeater and socio-economic performance of rules governing access to water. sanderling) and one endangered water sharing plans adopted on The South Coast contains a number ecological community (freshwater the NSW South Coast. It provides of important environmental assets wetlands on coastal floodplains). an interim assessment of outcomes and supports a valuable irrigation The South Coast rivers are also rich from the investigations and identifies industry. Important environmental in native fish species and many are home to platypus. There are also priority needs for future monitoring assets include several threatened 14 national parks and 2 nature and evaluation activities. species, including a fish (Australian grayling), five frog species (giant reserves located in the area, burrowing frog, green and golden including South East Forest National Park, Wadbilliga National Park and Deua National Park. It is important to know whether the water sharing plans are meeting their environmental objectives, so that their effectiveness can be reviewed at the end of their 10-year period of operation. The information collected will be used to make informed decisions on how the plans might be improved when Figure 1 they are renewed. To achieve this, Photo-point monitoring the NSW Office of Water undertakes site on Wandella Creek ecological monitoring and evaluation at Motbey Crossing. activities focused on specific clauses and performance indicators within the plans. 4 Environmental flow response and socio-economic monitoring | South Coast - progress report 2010 What WatEr sharing Three more plans are proposed Sources. More details of these Plans arE currEntly for the South Coast in 2010–11 to plans can be found on the in PlacE? cover the Bega Brogo Regulated, NSW Office of Water’s website One water sharing plan on Unregulated and Alluvial Water www.water.nsw.gov.au go to Water the South Coast is currently Sources, the Murrah–Wallaga Management > Water Sharing Plans. gazetted, being the Water Sharing Unregulated and Alluvial Water Plan for the Wandella Creek Water Sources, and the Towamba Source 2003 (Figure 2). Unregulated and Alluvial Water South Pacific Figure 2 Ocean Location of the current water sharing plan on the South Coast. Clyde River Batemans Bay Cooma Tuross River Narooma Bermagui Brog Dam Brogo River Bega Towamba River Eden Legend South Pacific Wandella Creek Water Source 0 10Ocean 20 Major storage reserviors kilometres Clyde River 5 Batemans Bay Cooma Tuross River Narooma Bermagui Brog Dam Brogo River Bega Towamba River Eden the South Coast available water determinations What has influEncEd thE What EnvironmEntal flows for the environment. For more WatEr sharing Plan’s issuEs arE addrEssEd information on the water sharing oPEration in 2009–10? by thE WatEr sharing plans visit www.water.nsw.gov.au Plans? go to Water Management > Water u nregulated rivers – water Sharing Plans. availability u nregulated rivers water Annual allocations to all categories sharing plans of access licences for the Wandella The Water Sharing Plan for the Creek Water Source were 100 per Wandella Creek Water Sources sets cent, although the low flows in some cease-to-pump rules to protect very Bega River streams may have meant that not all low flows and daily flow sharing of this was extractable. rules to protect a proportion of Image courtesy of Tim Haeusler 6 Environmental flow response and socio-economic monitoring | South Coast - progress report 2010 ecological monitoring What Ecological habitats may be undertaken during figurE 3 monitoring is the life of the plan. Monitoring sites for the Water Sharing Plan for the Wandella Creek Water Source. occurring? Up to the end of the 2009–10 water year, one round of low flow Tuross River unregulated rivers water assessment was undertaken, in sharing plans April 2009. River flows were gauged The NSW Office of Water at various locations across the established a program to assess catchment when they were close the ecological outcomes of the 20 to or at the cease-to-pump levels. water sharing plans for unregulated Since that time there have been few Wandella Creek water sources that were gazetted opportunities for further monitoring Fern Creek in 2004. The first aim of ecological at low flow levels. When conditions monitoring is to determine whether are again appropriate, further the environmental objectives of the monitoring will be undertaken. plans are being achieved. Sam Woods Gully A monitoring program has been Dogtrap Gully established in the unregulated river Stony Creek sections covered by the Water Sharing Plan for the Wandella Paddys Creek Creek Water Source. This consists Wandella Creek primarily of a field verification study to assess the adequacy of the cease-to-pump levels in Galba Creek meeting the plan’s environmental Bunnan objectives. Initial work has involved Bunnan Satur the establishment of photo-point Tanto Creek monitoring sites (Figures 1, 3 and 4) and an assessment of the Legend Cuan Creek Cuan Creek catchment hydrology during periods Fish monitoring Merriwa of low flow. Depending on the Low flow gauging and results of these initial studies, more 0 3 6 photo-point monitoring detailed monitoring of vulnerable Active flow gauge kilometres Kayuga 7 Wybong Wybong Creek Sandy Hollow Wybong Creek Goulburn River the South Coast Fish sampling has been undertaken approach will try to determine round of sampling was undertaken as part of the predictive ecological whether water extraction has in May 2010, and another was modelling for all existing unregulated impacted the fish communities in the planned for April 2011 at the two water sharing plans. This new Wandella Creek Water Source. One locations shown in Figure 3.
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