Sydney drinking water catchment audit 2005
The 2005 audit of the Sydney drinking water catchment is the fourth independent audit report of this catchment. Like the three previous bi-annual reports (prepared by the CSIRO in 1999 and 2001, and DEC in 2003) this report has been prepared in accordance with Sydney Water Catchment Management Act 1998 (s.42).
The 16,000 km2 catchment supplies drinking water for more than 4 million people in Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Illawarra (catchment map Map 1.1.pdf). The report provides a valuable benchmark for the government, private sector and the community who share common interests in the supply of raw drinking water and the health of the catchment, enabling stakeholders to identify areas that need to be targeted for additional action.
The audit process (Chapter 1: (sdwc05chapter1.pdf 125 kb) involved consultations on information and data to assist the audit process in assessing the state of the catchment.
The 2005 audit report is structured around four major themes:
An important feature of the report is the use of a core set of 16 environmental indicators that have each been applied to one of the four major themes to provide a valuable baseline for future audits.
Audit results have been summarised in the Executive Summary (sdwc05summary.pdf 51 kb). A list of Recommendations (sdwc05recommend.pdf 19 kb) has been compiled to assist stakeholders to improve both the collection and analysis of information for use in future audits.
Audit of Sydney Drinking Water Catchment: Report to the Minister for the Environment, NSW State Government (December 2005)
(Contents provided as pdf files - requires Acrobat Reader)
Executive Summary (sdwc05summary.pdf 51 kb)
Recommendations (sdwc05recommend.pdf 19 kb)
Chapter 1: Introduction (sdwc05chapter1.pdf 125 kb)
Chapter 2: Raw Water Quality (sdwc05chapter2.pdf 552 kb)
Chapter 3: Managing Water Resources (sdwc05chapter3.pdf 310 kb)
Chapter 4: Land Condition (sdwc05chapter4.pdf 427 kb)
Chapter 5: Ecosystem Health (sdwc05chapter5.pdf 503 kb)
Bibliography (sdwc05bibliography.pdf 28 kb)
Acronyms (sdwc05acronyms.pdf 8 kb)
Appendix A: Criteria for identifying a sub-catchment as being under pressure (sdwc05appendixA.pdf 15 kb)
Appendix B: Individuals and organisations who provided a submission or response to the Sydney Drinking Water Catchment Audit (sdwc05appendixB.pdf 10 kb)
Appendix C: List of stakeholders provided with a draft of the report to comment on the accuracy of information and data provided to the audit (sdwc05appendixC.pdf 10 kb)
Appendix D: Roles and Responsibilities of Stakeholders (sdwc05appendixD.pdf 24 kb)
Appendix E: Data summaries (sdwc05appendixE.pdf 112 kb)
Page last updated: 26 February 2011
