* Water quality management plans are developed to address existing, or future, specific
concerns or problems in a catchment or waterbody that pose a threat to aquatic
ecosystems or impairment of the community's desired beneficial uses for water and
its ecosystems.
* Establishing the environmental values for the waterbody, through communication
with stakeholders and the community is the first step in the process of developing
a monitoring and management plan. The water quality guidelines provide details on what
is needed to protect and maintain each type of value, and use for, the waterbody
and the water resources.
* Environmental values are the beneficial uses of the environment and ecological values
that that are important and require protection from the effects of pollution, waste
discharges, deposits and degradation of the catchment and its waterbodies.
* The environmental values recognised by the water quality guidelines are:
=> Aquatic Ecosystem Protection with six types specified (upland rivers, lowland
rivers, lakes and reservoirs, wetlands, estuaries, marine) & sediments.
=> Primary Industries (irrigation and general water use, stock drinking water,
aquatic and human consumption of aquatic foods),
=> Recreation and Aesthetics;
=> Drinking Water.
=> [industrial and cultural/spiritual are not currently included in the guidelines]
* Several environmental values may be designated for a specific waterbody. It is assumed
that meeting the needs for the most stringent environmental value will satisfy the
requirement for other values specified. This means that only one guideline value or
water quality objective is generally specified for each attribute. For example if
the waterbody is to be used for drinking water and for irrigation, and the Lead (Pb)
concentration is a problem. Then the guideline for lead in irrigation is used for
management of this problem to protect the values as this has the most stringent
requirement.
* Various guideline lists have been published for the Environmental Values. In this
package at total of 28 separate lists have been recognised and web pages developed
to show the guideline values specified for them.
* The first step in developing a management plan for aquatic ecosystems is to classify
the receiving waterbodies into the key types recognised by the published guidelines:
Marine
=> Estuarine
=> Coastal and Marine (Inshore and Offshore)
Freshwater
=> Lakes and Reservoirs
=> Wetlands
=> Upland Rivers and Streams
=> Lowland Rivers and Streams
* There are a range of indicator types available for these ecosystems each with its own
list of guideline values:
=> Sediments
=> Toxicants
=> Physical and Chemical Stressors
=> Biological Indicators (Note: There are no guideline lists for biological indicators
however the published guidelines provide extensive information and protocols
for biological indicators (see Section 3.2 page 3.2-1). The developmnet of an
integrated approach using a suite of chemical and biological indicators is also
encouraged.