Tamar Estuary
River Health Action Plan
14
Rosanna Coombes, CEO NRM North
Rolph Vos, Chair of Tamar Estuary and Esk Rivers
Martin Read, Department of Primary Industry, Parks, Water and Environment
The Taskforce reports to the Launceston City Deal Executive Board which comprises:
Commonwealth Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (co-Chair)
Tasmanian Government Office of the Coordinator General (co-Chair)
Commonwealth Department of Education and Training
The City of Launceston
The University of Tasmania
The Board met twice in its first year (2017), then will meet annually, to monitor progress in implementing the
Deal’s commitments. The Taskforce is to deliver annual reports to the Launceston City Deal Executive Board on
progress towards the targets it sets.
2.3
Taskforce Terms of Reference
The Taskforce met for the first time on 3 August 2017 and agreed a terms of reference for its work. Key amongst
its scope and as set out in the City Deal, the Taskforce was charged with developing a River Health Action Plan
by the end of 2017 (this Plan). The Taskforce agreed that the Plan should include:
recommendations for priority government investments and policy actions;
preferred options for mitigating the effect on the Tamar Estuary of the combined sewerage and stormwater
system;
arrangements for the long-term oversight and ongoing governance of the health of the Tamar Estuary and
its
catchments; and
measurable targets and accountability for meeting them over the life of the City Deal and the longer term.
In commencing its work, the Taskforce acknowledged the significant work of the Tamar Estuary and Esk Rivers
(TEER) partnership led by NRM North, including its 2015 Water Quality Improvement Plan and agreed that
where appropriate this work would be built upon. It also acknowledged that there have been many past reports
and investigations into the issues pertaining to Tamar Estuary health and did not have any intent to duplicate what
has come before.
2.4
Initial priorities agreed by the Taskforce
To reach agreement on what its work program should be, the Taskforce first gained a common understanding of
the measures of Estuary health.
To some, “Estuary health” relates to measures of public health (e.g. faecal contamination from human and animal
sources as measured by enterococci levels in the water) which present the most immediate risk to the public. To
others, it is the ecological health in the Estuary (e.g. the impacts of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous on
the diversity of Estuary flora and fauna) and for some it is less about health measures and more about amenity
Tamar Estuary
River Health Action Plan
15
measures (e.g. the level of sedimentation in the yacht basin impacting on the ability to use pleasure craft or the
visual amenity of less water flowing down the South Esk due to use for hydroelectricity generation).
Given the potential for a very broad scope, the Taskforce resolved that, based on the guidance within the City
Deal and on the membership’s collective view as to the key risk of poor Estuary health, its initial focus would be
on looking at actions to improve public health measures. In essence, this is the risk to the population of primary
contact with the Estuary, and the Taskforce decided to focus specifically on what TEER had already defined as
“Zone 1”, between Launceston and Legana.
This is not to say that the other measures of health and amenity are not important, nor are the other zones of
the Estuary not important, but this narrowing of focus allowed this Action Plan to be developed by the end of
2017 and allowed the Taskforce to consult with the community about which of the other measures were seen as
of most importance and which could be part of a future work program.
This led the Taskforce to focus on mitigating pathogens entering the Estuary from the combined sewerage and
stormwater system and looking at other sources of pathogens coming down the catchment.
2.5
Establishment and scope of working groups
The Taskforce resolved to establish two Working Groups
to support its efforts, particularly to provide specialist
input and advice. The working groups were directed to focus on:
The Launceston Combined System Overflows
The working group’s scope was to build on the Launceston City Council’s hydraulic modelling of the combined
system, agree a set of priority solutions to mitigate overflow events which could be tested through the hydraulic
model, understand the impact of these solutions on public health outcomes in the Estuary and then cost priority
works.
Catchment Actions
This working group sought to build upon the TEER Water Quality Improvement Plan 2015 and aimed to identify
the most cost effective and beneficial investment scenarios to achieve outcomes for water quality improvement in
Zone 1 with a focus on reducing pathogen loads from catchment diffuse and urban sources.
As necessary, other stakeholders were consulted by the Working Groups.
2.6
Initial funding for Taskforce activities
The Taskforce was provided with $2 million for priority actions to reduce pollution from urban and rural land
uses and address pollution from the combined sewerage and stormwater system. The Australian Government,
through the Department of Energy and Environment, allocated $1.5m ($500,000 per annum for three years),
while the Tasmanian State Government provided $500,000.