Integrated Partnership: Healthy catchments-healthy waterways
South East Queensland provides an excellent case study of the challenges for ecological sustainable management of rivers and coastal ecosystems in the face of population and climate change.
Understanding of the complexity, magnitude and inter-relatedness of water issues is evolving very rapidly in Sout East Queensland. The Partnership’s focus evolved into the integration of SEQ catchment with the SEQ freshwater systems, estuaries, coasts and Moreton Bay. Predicted population increases in the region are likely to further impact on the ecological and economic health of the waterways and catchments.
The challenge of protecting, maintaining and improving the ecosystem health of South East Queensland's waterways despite increasing population growth can be met by achieving a balance through the “sustainable loads” concept.
The ecosystem health condition of our waterways is an aggregate of the impacts of point (industrial emissions and wastewater treatment plants), diffuse sources (urban stormwater, agricultural run-off and natural systems run-off) from the catchments and the assimilative capacity (internal processing) of our waterways. The approach of setting targets (or quantifiable objectives) as a driver and yardstick for management is very explicit in the development of water quality improvement plans and regional natural resource management plans.
The concept of “sustainable loads” is defined as the amount of pollutants (e.g. nutrients and sediments) that a waterway can cope without it becoming degraded. The strength of the “sustainable loads” concept is the determination of explicit links between loads from the catchment (which are a reflection of the activities and pressures in the catchment) to the ecosystem health of our waterways.
Sustainable Loads Diagram
Current Water Cycle Diagram