NSW Water Quality and River Flow Objectives About the Objectives Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water   Select from the scrolling list, statewide map or catchment list Select a catchment Barwon-Darling and Far Western Bega River Bellinger River Border Rivers Brunswick River Camden Haven and Hastings River Castlereagh River Clarence River Clyde River and Jervis Bay Cooks River Georges River Gosford and Northern Beaches Lagoons Gwydir River Hacking River Hawkesbury-Nepean River Hunter River Karuah River and Great Lakes Lachlan River Illawarra Lake Macquarie and Tuggerah Lakes Macleay River Macquarie-Bogan River Manning River Moruya River Murray River Murrumbidgee River and Lake George Nambucca River Namoi River Richmond River Shoalhaven River Sydney Harbour and Parramatta River Towamba and Genoa River Tuross River Tweed River Williams River

Bellinger River and Coffs Harbour
Water Quality and River Flow Objectives

| Contents | Background | Consultation | Objectives | WQOs | RFOs | Glossary | Bibliography| Map | At a Glance |

• Town water supply subcatchments
• Water Quality Objectives
• River Flow Objectives
• Mainly forested areas
• Water Quality Objectives
• River Flow Objectives
• Waterways affected by urban development
• Water Quality Objectives
• River Flow Objectives
• Uncontrolled streams
• Water Quality Objectives
• River Flow Objectives
• Estuaries
• Water Quality Objectives
• River Flow Objectives

This section gives the Water Quality Objectives (WQOs) and the River Flow Objectives (RFOs) for the Bellinger River and Coffs Harbour catchments, 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 sub-catchment may be declared as specially protected to minimise the land-use impacts on water quality.

Map: These sub-catchments are coloured light blue on the map.

Water Quality Objectives

Protection of:

	Aquatic ecosystems
	Visual amenity
	Drinking water-Disinfection only
	Drinking water-Clarification and disinfection
	Drinking water-Groundwater

River Flow Objectives

	Protect pools in dry times
	Protect natural low flows
	Manage groundwater for ecosystems

Supporting Information

• This category includes Lake Hiawatha and Minnie Water Lake. Lake Hiawatha supplies drinking water to Wooli, while Minnie Water Lake supplies drinking water to the town of Minnie Water.
• Coffs Harbour draws its town water supply from Karangi Dam in the adjoining Clarence River catchment.
• To ensure long-term achievement of these WQOs, existing land management programs aimed at maintaining or improving drinking water water quality should continue and be reviewed.

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:

	Aquatic ecosystems
	Visual amenity
	Secondary contact recreation
	Primary contact recreation
	Drinking water at point of supply-Disinfection only
	Drinking water at point of supply-Clarification and disinfection
	Aquatic foods (cooked)

River Flow Objectives

	Protect pools in dry times
	Protect natural low flows
	Maintain wetland and floodplain inundation
	Maintain natural flow variability
	Manage groundwater for ecosystems
	Minimise effects of weirs and other structures

Supporting information

• This category includes Pine Creek, Tuckers Nob and Orara West state forests, and parts of Dorrigo and New England national parks.
• In many places, forested areas have agricultural land uses along the upstream section of the river. 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 natural variability in flows.
• RFO Manage groundwater for ecosystems applies in areas of groundwater use.
• While there are few barriers instream in waterways in this category, RFO Minimise effects of weirs and other structures is included in case instream structures are proposed in the future.

Waterways affected by urban development

Streams within urban areas are frequently substantially modified and carry poor quality stormwater. Local communities are often keen to see such streams returned to more natural conditions.

Map: Urban development areas are shown in orange on the map.

Water Quality Objectives

Protection of:

	Aquatic ecosystems
	Visual amenity
	Secondary contact recreation, as a short-term objective, within 5 years
	Primary contact recreation: assess opportunities to achieve as a longer-term objective, 10 years or more

River Flow Objectives

	Mimic natural drying in temporary waterways
	Maintain natural flow variability
	Maintain natural rates of change in water levels
	Manage groundwater for ecosystems
	Minimise effects of weirs and other structures

Supporting information

• This category includes the urban areas of Coffs Harbour, Urunga, Bellingen, Sawtell, Woolgoolga, Brooms Head, Minnie Water, Corindi, Moonee, Mylestom and Wooli.
• 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.

Uncontrolled streams

These uncontrolled streams and waterbodies are 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:

	Aquatic ecosystems
	Visual amenity
	Secondary contact recreation
	Primary contact recreation
	Livestock water supply
	Irrigation water supply
	Homestead water supply
	Drinking water at point of supply-Disinfection only
	Drinking water at point of supply-Clarification and disinfection
	Drinking water at point of supply-Groundwater
	Aquatic foods (cooked)

River Flow Objectives

	Protect pools in dry times
	Protect natural low flows
	Protect important rises in water levels
	Maintain wetland and floodplain inundation
	Mimic natural drying in temporary waterways
	Maintain natural flow variability
	Manage groundwater for ecosystems
	Minimise effects of weirs and other structures

Supporting information

• This category includes a significant town water supply offtake approximately 1 kilometre upstream of Bellingen from where bores in river gravels supply both Bellingen and Urunga, and management of this area needs to take this use into account.

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:

	Aquatic ecosystems
	Visual amenity
	Secondary contact recreation
	Primary contact recreation
	Aquatic foods (cooked) and commercial shellfish production

River Flow Objectives

	Maintain wetland and floodplain inundation
	Manage groundwater for ecosystems
	Minimise effects of weirs and other structures
	Maintain or rehabilitate estuarine processes and habitats

Supporting information

• This category includes the estuaries of the Wooli, Bellinger, Kalang and Sandon rivers, Bonville and Coffs creeks, Woolgoolga Lagoon and adjacent coastal creeks.
• Land surrounding the lower estuarine reaches are underlain by potential acid sulfate soils, which should not be disturbed. Dredging, floodplain drainage and disturbance of bottom sediments (i.e. those below water level) can also have major impacts in these areas for the same reason.
• All commercially harvested shellfish and mussels in NSW are harvested in accordance with the NSW Shellfish Program.

This page was published 1 May 2006