Woolgoolga Lake Estuary Coastal Zone Management Plan (7.9MB)

Strategy Action 2.5Stormwater management for existing urban developmentBackground:Urban development comprises over half of the immediate estuary catchment area of Woolgoolga Lake. It isimportant that stormwater management improvements (treatment and detention) are pursued in existing urbanareas where existing arrangements are deficient. This may include retrofitting of existing drainage systems toimprove treatment and detention as opportunities arise in association with redevelopment.Specific TasksDevelop a stormwater management plan for the existing urban area of Woolgoolga Lake catchment with afocus on auditing key stormwater outlets and associated drainage catchments to identify sub-standardtreatment or sub-standard detention of flows and opportunities for retrofitting of the existing system. It isrecommended this task is undertaken in association with Action A-3 in Council’s Climate ChangeMitigation and Adaptation Action Plan (BMT WBM, et al, 2010) which aims to identify vulnerable essentialservices (e.g. stormwater) to determine assets at risk from sea level rise (refer also to StrategyAction 1.2);Based on the above audit, retrofit high-priority stormwater drainage systems with treatment and/ordetention systems. It is recommended this task is undertaken in association with Action A-7 in Council’sClimate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Action Plan (BMT WBM, et al, 2010) which aims to relocate orreplace vulnerable essential services (e.g. stormwater) to reduce potential for interference from sea levelrise (refer also to Strategy Action 1.2).ResponsibleAgenciesTimeframe Cost Potential FundingSourcesMonitoringCHCCInitial audit:Years 1 – 5Retrofit works:long term Stormwatermanagementplan:$50 - $80k Retrofit works:dependant onproposed worksCHCCEnvironmental LevyImplementation ofthis action is anappropriatebenchmarkStrategy Action 2.6Encourage horticultural landowners to establish vegetated riparian zones on farm watercourses via theincentives program for Best Practice ManagementBackground:When looked at over the whole state of NSW, water quality data shows that the condition of an ICOLLdegrades significantly once natural vegetation is lost from more than half of the catchment (Haines 2008).Clearly increased urban and agricultural development can result in negative impacts on waterways within thecatchment. However, making provisions for adequate riparian buffer widths throughout a catchment can resultin a number of benefits to receiving waters, such as reduced sediment and nutrient loads. It can also servegreater environmental purposes such as provision of wildlife corridors between alternative habitats.Generally, the urbanised tributaries of Woolgoolga Lake are provided with vegetated riparian buffers of aminimum of 10 to 20 m width. The Processes Study indicates that riparian vegetation in the study area ispredominately in moderate to good condition (GeoLINK et al., 2011a). However, some tributaries in the uppercatchment in horticultural areas are lacking any vegetated riparian buffer as indicated in the following plate.Coastal Zone Management Plan - Woolgoolga Lake Estuary1616-100421