Heavy rain behind drop in catchment score

Significant wet weather over the past 12 months has driven a slight decline in the health of Noosa River and its catchment. 

Significant wet weather over the past 12 months has driven a slight decline in the health of Noosa River and its catchment.

The catchment received a B rating for the first time since the new framework for annual monitoring of the health of southeast Queensland’s waterways began in 2015.

The Catchment Summaries Report released by Healthy Land and Water this week showed grades were down across the region following disaster-scale floods earlier this year, with some catchments receiving a much lower rating.

“Noosa’s rating declined slightly from excellent (A-) to good condition (B), largely due to the floods transporting more than three times the amount of pollutants into the river than in the year before,” Council’s Acting Environmental Services Manager, Rebecca Britton, said.

Ms Britton said the overall health of Noosa’s waterways was still strong, despite higher loads of nitrogen and phosphorus, which drove a slight decline in estuarine water quality.

“On a positive note, the report card shows Noosa residents are some of the most satisfied with their local waterways in all of southeast Queensland, with a 78% rating,” she said.

“In addition, 74% derived very high levels of personal benefits from our waterways compared to 57% for all of southeast Queensland.”

While significant rainfall is chiefly responsible for the slight decline in catchment health this year, Council is always looking for ways to build resilience into the river to protect against climate extremes.

“We’ve made good headway to improve river health by establishing an integrated water quality monitoring program and partnering with The Nature Conservancy to build 30 reef patches at four restoration sites in the estuary.”

“We have also continued investment with our natural resource management partners, Noosa & District Landcare and the Noosa Integrated Catchment Association through projects such as the Keep it in Kin Kin Project and Riverwatch.”

Healthy Land & Water recommendations included continued investment in community groups to deliver actions that improve catchment health, plus a focus on engagement and compliance for industries with high soil disturbance such as agriculture and development.