NSW Water Quality and River Flow Objectives |
 About the Objectives |
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This website contains water quality objectives (WQOs) and river flow objectives (RFOs) for 31 catchments in New South Wales. Catchments can also be selected from the statewide map. The objectives reflect the community's values and uses for its waterways, as well as key components of the river flow regime.
The WQOs recognise the community's values for water endorsed by Government and the water quality needed to support those values. The values include protection of aquatic ecosystems, visual amenity, secondary and primary recreation, livestock watering, irrigation, homestead, drinking water and water quality suitable for growing aquatic foods. For each of these values, nationally agreed guidelines and criteria help to determine the water quality that will protect it. The central reference is the Australian Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality (ANZECC/ARMCANZ 2000).
The WQOs and ANZECC Guidelines provide long-term goals for water quality. They help us assess the state of our catchments, identify and prioritise risks and threats, develop management action plans, and direct on-ground investment to deal with water quality "hotspots".
These WQOs amd RFOs were developed after extensive community consultation about the proposed objectives, conducted between November 1997 and May 1998. Results of the consultation are contained in the Background for each catchment. For an analysis of the statewide community consultation program, see A Review of Community Consultation.
A large (approximately 1500 x 1000 pixel) map is provided for each catchment.
For each of the 31 NSW catchments, a one-page catchment
at a glance (
This page was published 1 May 2006