Ipswich City Council

Catchments and Waterways

Bremer Catchment | Water Pollution | Water Quality Management

Water Quality Management

Water is our most valuable, natural resource. It has many diverse and important values - providing habitat sources for wildlife, water for households, factories and farms and recreational and educational benefits for us all.

Historically, water was considered to be an unlimited resource and its long term quality and availability were taken for granted. The combination of this belief with a quest for development led to the exploitation of our natural resources and a continual decline in the health of our waterways.

Furthermore, the fauna and flora that relied on healthy creek and river systems for survival suffered greatly and their numbers have gradually declined.

Water Quality Monitoring allows us to collect regular data of water quality to assess the impacts of these activities on the overall health of the catchment. Areas of concern can then be investigated and action plans developed in order to minimise the problem.

Some common indicators of environmental health of the water include:

temperature
nitrogen
fauna and flora surveys
pH
turbidity
conductivity
dissolved oxygen
phosphorus

It is important to understand that we all live within a catchment area and that our day to day activities have the potential to impact on the health of our waterways. Water Quality Monitoring provides an avenue by which community groups and school students can assess the water quality of their local creek or river in order to understand the effects of human activity on the health of the catchment area. Monitoring also helps to evaluate the effectiveness of catchment management initiatives.

What is a Catchment?

A catchment is the area from which all run-off water flows to a low point to form a creek or river. It is bounded by natural features such as hills and mountains. Consider the roof of a shed as a catchment area and the gutters and downpipes as the river or creek. Everything that is on the roof, such as leaves and twigs, are washed away with the rainfall. This is similiar to how litter and pollutants are washed into our Waterways.

What is in a Catchment?

Every Catchment is different, varying in size and land use types. Some catchment's may contain large areas of natural reserves and mountainous terrain, while others maybe mostly urbanised.

What is a Land Use?

A 'Land Use' is the generalised or specific description of the activity for which a particular parcel of land is used. That is, what is the purpose for which the land is used? Examples of Land Uses are:

rural and agricultural land (crops and grazing)
national parks
cities and towns
sewerage systems
refuse tips
natural vegetation
industries and factories
forestry areas
mining and extractive industries

Last Updated 16 Oct 2007 |

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