Manning River
Water Quality and River Flow Objectives
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At a Glance |
This section gives the Water Quality Objectives (WQOs) and the River Flow Objectives (RFOs) for the Manning River catchment, which should be used to develop plans and actions affecting water quality and river health. Only the priority RFOs are listed in this section, but the remaining objectives still need to be considered when developing flow management plans or dealing with particular local river conditions.
Town water supply subcatchments
The streams in town water supply subcatchments typically feed into a town's water supply storage. In many cases, the catchment may be declared as specially protected to minimise the land-use impacts on water quality.
Map: The objectives apply to streams running through areas coloured light blue on the map.
Water Quality Objectives
Protection of:
River Flow Objectives
Supporting information
- This category includes Bootawa Dam catchment.
- To ensure long-term achievement of these WQOs, existing land management programs aimed at maintaining or improving drinking water quality should continue and be reviewed.
- Town water supplies will not need to be augmented to meet these objectives. If augmentation is proposed for other reasons, appropriate levels of protection of low flows should be determined on a case-by-case basis.
- Local factors include maintaining natural flows from springs (groundwater) and the effects of land management on volumes and times of runoff, particularly in droughts; the flow needs of ecosystems and people within the area; the reliability of town water supplies; and the needs of ecosystems and people downstream.
Mainly forested areas
Streams in mainly forested areas are often valued for their conservation or recreational values. They often have relatively natural flows and water quality. Many are in national parks or state forests.
Map: The objectives apply to streams running through areas coloured green on the map (state forests, national parks and nature reserves); and through other forested areas, if any are defined locally.
Water Quality Objectives
Protection of:
River Flow Objectives
Supporting information
- This category includes Kiwarrak, Giro and Knorrit state forests, Woko National Park and parts of Barrington Tops National Park.
- In some areas, streams in this category will have agricultural land uses along their upstream sections. Management of upstream impacts will be needed to achieve or maintain the high water quality levels and close to natural flow patterns expected in forested areas-particularly for drinking water and for natural variability in flows.
- There may be locations where Aboriginal communities collect freshwater aquatic foods to eat raw. NSW Health recommends against the consumption of raw shellfish harvested on a non-commercial basis and local communities should be made aware of the risks involved.
- RFO Manage groundwater for ecosystems applies in areas of groundwater use.
- There are few barriers instream in waterways in this category, but RFO Minimise effects of weirs and other structures is included in case instream structures are proposed in the future.
- Preliminary water-sharing arrangements coordinated by the Manning River Catchment Management Committee are in place. These are to be considered by the river management committees mentioned on page 4.
Waterways affected by urban development
Streams within urban areas are often substantially modified and carry poor quality stormwater. Many local communities are keen to see such streams returned to more natural conditions.
Map: These areas are shown as orange dots on the map.
Water Quality Objectives
River Flow Objectives
Supporting information
- This category includes the urban areas of Taree, Wingham and Gloucester.
- In some urban waterways aquatic ecosystems are considerably modified. A return to pristine aquatic ecosystems in these areas is unlikely and impractical, however, water quality conditions for existing ecosystems can be improved greatly for the benefit of local species and broader catchment health. Data from other local aquatic ecosystems of similar type, in areas that are not urbanised, may provide achievable criteria for these modified aquatic ecosystems.
- Existing programs include the Urban Stormwater Management Program, which includes a stormwater education program, the development of stormwater plans and a series of stormwater trust grants.
- Relevant activities include construction of a wetland to manage urban stormwater and industrial runoff at Gloucester and nursery wastewater treatment at Taree.
- Department of Land and Water Conservation (DLWC) monitoring indicates there can be elevated bacterial levels downstream of Gloucester, which could have implications for water-based recreational and tourism pursuits.
Uncontrolled streams
Uncontrolled streams and waterbodies are those not in estuaries or the other categories. Their flow patterns are largely natural but may have been altered to a limited degree.
Map: Uncontrolled streams are shown as blue lines on the map.
Water Quality Objectives
Protection of:
River Flow Objectives
Supporting information
- There may be locations where Aboriginal communities collect freshwater aquatic foods to eat raw. NSW Health recommends against the consumption of raw shellfish harvested on a non-commercial basis and local communities should be made aware of the risks involved. Some forested areas may provide opportunities to protect this activity.
- Preliminary water-sharing arrangements are in place. These are to be reviewed by the river management committees mentioned on page 4.
- The Barnard Scheme could potentially divert water from the Upper Manning River catchment to augment water supply for the power industry in the Hunter. The Barnard Scheme has been rarely used in recent years and is partly decommissioned.
Estuaries
Being dominated by saline conditions, estuaries have hydraulic and water quality characteristics, and potential problems, that are often very different from those of freshwater systems.
Map: Estuaries are coloured purple on the map.
Water Quality Objectives
Protection of:
River Flow Objectives
Supporting information
- This category includes the Manning estuary and adjacent coastal areas.
- The Manning River Shellfish Quality Assurance Program conducts regular monitoring of estuarine water quality as part of actions to support commercial shellfish production.
- Dredging and drainage works can have major impacts, since much of the lower reaches of the catchment are underlain by potential acid sulfate soils, which should not be disturbed.
This page was published 1 May 2006