Land and Water Interactions

Land and water interactions

Catchment management

Catchment management aims to coordinate land and water resources. A catchment is an area of land, bound by higher areas such as mountains from which water flows to the lowest point, such as a lake, river or sea. Catchments are connected from top to bottom, so what happens to the land and water upstream has a large influence on what happens downstream. No matter where a person lives, they live in a catchment and have some responsibility for its sustainable management.

The New South Wales Government has 13 Catchment Management Authorities (CMA) to handle land–water issues. CMAs work in partnership with farmers, Aboriginal communities, local governments and industries to develop programs:

• Land management focuses on conserving soil and land resources (timber, minerals). Some programs have filled in gully erosion, thus decreasing the amount of sediment in rivers and maintaining marine species.
• Water management focuses on improving water quantity and quality. Some programs have built artificial wetlands to reduce nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates entering rivers, resulting in healthier marine ecosystems.

Individuals are part of catchment management. The Sydney catchment has 8800 volunteers involved in Bushcare and Landcare activities every year. Over 21 000 volunteers helped manage beaches, bushlands and parklands in 2008.

Major issues

The process of developing the objectives has identified the need for progressive action on the following major issues to achieve healthy and viable catchments (comment on some of these is included in Section 3 in the supporting information for the recommended objectives).

• Reduce sedimentation of the lower river and estuary. The causes of sedimentation include upstream erosion, damage to streambanks (e.g. by removing vegetation or permitting cattle access) and allowing uncontrolled growth of large plants (e.g. casuarinas) in streambeds that divert high flows.
• Halt tree decline and loss of riparian vegetation (a significant issue, particularly in the tableland areas of the catchment).
• Ensure water availability and equity of access. Actions aimed at meeting river flow objectives will need to recogniseexisting industries and infrastructure and the needs that these developments have for a reliable source of water.
• Deal with acid sulfate soil problems and the associated acid drainage in the estuary. Established land-management practices have been implicated in exacerbating the problem, but modifying these practices may make some land holdings uneconomic. There will be major planning and equity issues to be dealt with here.
• Closely consider the long-term viability of the oyster industry. The industry is being affected by existing problems (e.g. sewage discharges, acid discharges). Solutions to these problems are understood but their implementation can affect others. Equity issues will again be significant.
• Reduce the stress on rivers where this has been identified as an issue.
• Protect the conservation values of rivers. As a guide, such rivers should not be allowed to degrade further in water quality or flow regime, and may need restoration where water quality is poor, the flow regime has changed or habitat has been lost or degraded.
• Respect Aboriginal spiritual and cultural values associated with rivers, creeks, wetlands and lakes; and traditional Aboriginal management roles in, and uses for, these areas-including as a source of traditional foods that are safe to eat.
• Actively involve the community in developing future strategies and actions associated with the interim environmental objectives.