Third Reedy Lake Goulburn-Murray Water Connections Project Operational Environmental Management Plan R01 | Draft Rev 5 February 21 2019 PO 20013844 Operati onal Environmental M anagement Plan Goulburn-M urray Water C onnections Proj ect Operational Environmental Management Plan Third Reedy Lake Operational Environmental Management Plan Project No: IS260300 Document Title: Operational Environmental Management Plan Document No.: R01 Revision: Draft V5 Date: 21 February 2019 Client Name: Goulburn-Murray Water Connections Project Client No: PO 20013844 Project Manager: Sarah Heard Author: Simon Treadwell, Mel Tranter, Sarah Heard, Nic Unland, Damien Cook, Ivor Stuart, Clayton Sharpe Jacobs Australia Pty Limited Floor 11, 452 Flinders Street Melbourne VIC 3000 PO Box 312, Flinders Lane Melbourne VIC 8009 Australia T +61 3 8668 3000 F +61 3 8668 3001 www.jacobs.com © Copyright 2018 Jacobs Australia Pty Limited. 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Document history and status Revision Date Description By Review Approved Draft V1 14/10/2018 Preliminary Draft to GMW Sarah Heard Simon Treadwell Simon Treadwell Draft V2 20/11/2018 Final Draft to GMW Sarah Heard Simon Treadwell Simon Treadwell Draft V3 25/11/2018 Final draft to ERP Sarah Heard Simon Treadwell Simon Treadwell Draft V4 20/12/2018 Draft to GMW incorporating ERP comments Simon Treadwell Mel Tranter Simon Treadwell Draft V5 21/02/2019 Final to DELWP incorporating CoEE Simon Treadwell Sarah Heard Simon Treadwell R01 i Operational Environmental Management Plan Contents Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 4 Glossary ........................................................................................................................................................ 8 Abbreviations .............................................................................................................................................. 10 1. Background ..................................................................................................................................... 11 1.1 Goulburn-Murray Water Connections Project .................................................................................. 11 1.2 Third Reedy Lake Bypass Project .................................................................................................... 11 1.3 Approvals process ............................................................................................................................ 11 1.4 Purpose of the OEMP....................................................................................................................... 13 1.5 OEMP development process ............................................................................................................ 14 1.5.1 Consultation and engagement ......................................................................................................... 15 1.5.2 Review .............................................................................................................................................. 15 2. Third Reedy Lake ............................................................................................................................ 16 2.1 Regional context ............................................................................................................................... 16 2.1.1 Regional setting ................................................................................................................................ 16 2.1.2 Land status and management .......................................................................................................... 17 2.1.3 Cultural Heritage ............................................................................................................................... 17 2.1.4 Recreation ........................................................................................................................................ 18 2.1.5 Operational uses .............................................................................................................................. 18 2.1.6 Regional hydrology ........................................................................................................................... 18 2.1.7 Regional groundwater ...................................................................................................................... 18 2.2 Local characteristics ......................................................................................................................... 19 2.2.1 Flora values ...................................................................................................................................... 19 2.2.2 Fauna values .................................................................................................................................... 23 2.2.3 Ecological condition and trajectory ................................................................................................... 24 2.2.4 Local hydrology and bathymetry ...................................................................................................... 25 2.2.5 Local groundwater ............................................................................................................................ 27 3. Approach to restoration................................................................................................................. 28 3.1 Management goal ............................................................................................................................. 28 3.2 Management units ............................................................................................................................ 28 3.3 Expected vegetation response ......................................................................................................... 29 3.3.1 Wetland fringe management unit ..................................................................................................... 30 3.3.2 Wetland bed management unit ........................................................................................................ 30 3.4 Ecological objectives ........................................................................................................................ 31 3.5 Hydrological considerations ............................................................................................................. 32 3.6 Proposed water regime .................................................................................................................... 33 3.7 Operationalising the proposed water regime ................................................................................... 37 3.8 Delivery infrastructure and flow measurement ................................................................................. 37 3.9 Management framework ................................................................................................................... 38 4. Adaptive Management ................................................................................................................... 40 4.1 Conceptual model, ecological objectives and management hypotheses ......................................... 40 R01 ii Operational Environmental Management Plan 4.2 Management targets and actions ..................................................................................................... 41 4.2.1 Management targets ......................................................................................................................... 41 4.2.2 Management triggers and actions .................................................................................................... 42 4.3 Monitoring activities .......................................................................................................................... 45 5. Risk Management ........................................................................................................................... 46 5.1 Risk to the ecological goal ................................................................................................................ 46 5.2 Risks to existing values .................................................................................................................... 48 5.2.1 Decline in fringing Black Box and River Red Gums ......................................................................... 49 5.2.2 Fish exit strategy .............................................................................................................................. 50 5.2.3 Acid sulfate soil management .......................................................................................................... 53 5.2.4 Water quality management .............................................................................................................