December 2017 Tamar Estuary
Yüklə 1,91 Mb. Pdf görüntüsü
|
Tamar Estuary River Health Action Plan 9 5.
The Taskforce continue work to determine appropriate ongoing governance arrangements for the Estuary and what actions may be taken to improve amenity values associated with sedimentation.
Tamar Estuary River Health Action Plan 10 1.
The kanamaluka/Tamar Estuary, its catchment and the Launceston Combined System At 70 kilometres long, the Tamar is one of the longest estuaries in Australia. The catchment that feeds the Estuary is around 10,000km2 in area and it encompasses a number of uses such as grazing, dairying, forestry, mining, residential and industrial activities. As can be seen, what happens as far away as Tunbridge, Fingal and Deloraine can impact on the Estuary’s health at Launceston or George Town. Key tributaries include the North Esk, South Esk, Macquarie and Meander Rivers.
There is a long held desire by the Launceston community to improve the health of the Estuary, particularly the area around the Yacht Basin at the confluence of the North Esk, South Esk and Tamar Rivers. Many of Launceston’s older residents recall a beach at Royal Park (which was in fact man made from sand imported from George Town) and there is a view amongst much of the community that primary contact with the water (e.g.
Tamar Estuary River Health Action Plan 11 swimming) should be the norm, not the exception. However, the health of the Estuary is influenced by many factors, some inherent in nature, some as a consequence of the social and economic history of the region. Influences including the City’s combined sewerage and stormwater system, the inability to flush sediment due to marine tides meeting freshwater rivers, agricultural practices further up in the catchment, historical industrial practices, outflows from multiple waste water treatment plants throughout the catchment, river floods and man made changes to the flow and channel of the Estuary have all been cited as reasons for the Tamar not meeting modern expectations of public amenity. It is worth highlighting that Launceston’s combined system is somewhat unique to Australia. It is the only major city that still has part of its stormwater and sewerage system utilising the same system of pipes. While it may be unique in Australia, combined systems are still prevalent in many major cities around the globe, including London and Paris. Their network of pipes are designed to carry the larger stormwater flows and thus are much bigger than that of a separated sewerage network and have a number of benefits. For example, run off from roads such as motor oils, contaminants washed down from the catchment and dog faeces, receive treatment in Launceston, which isn’t the case in the rest of the State. Historically combined systems were seldom designed to accommodate all rainfall events as this was often not possible or economically/technically feasible. This led to the systems having dedicated overflow points where any stormwater and sewage in the pipe at the time of a large rainfall event would also overflow. In the case of Launceston, there are 62 overflow points in the system, with around 15 that can overflow with sewage and these overflows ultimately end in the upper reaches of the Tamar. Previous research into the system suggested that the most frequently overflowing points in the system were spilling, on average, more than once weekly or in rainfall events of 4-5 mm. However, there was little consensus on the scope and scale of the issues created by the combined system as there was not a significant analysis of the historical body of detailed water quality monitoring, under varying weather conditions, to understand just what impact these overflows have and how long they last. The data available shows that relative to pathogen levels as recently as the early 1990s, there has been significant improvement in the public health measures in the upper Estuary.
Tamar Estuary River Health Action Plan 12
Past proposals for improving water quality have not been short in supply, but there has been no consensus as to the actions that will yield the best value for money improvements across public health, ecology and amenity values. While a complete separation of the combined system may be preferable, it would be extremely costly, potentially technically infeasible in part and would require upheaval across the city for a significant period. It would also not address all the diffuse sources of pollution entering the Estuary from further up in the catchment.
Tamar Estuary River Health Action Plan 13 2.
Tamar Estuary Management Taskforce 2.1
Launceston City Deal The Launceston City Deal is a five-year plan (from 2017 to 2022) to position Launceston as one of Australia’s most liveable and innovative regional cities. The Commonwealth Government, Tasmanian Government and City of Launceston are working together with local partners to achieve this shared vision for Launceston. The City Deal commitments aim to maximise Launceston’s potential through targeted investment to deliver:
business, industry and population growth;
a vibrant, liveable city;
innovation and industry engagement; and
a healthy Tamar Estuary. With respect to the last of the aims, the City Deal noted... “The fragmented governance and management of the Tamar Estuary and its catchments is a barrier to improving river health. Responsibility falls across various government departments, agencies, local government authorities and private land holders with competing priorities that cannot be easily resolved. There is a lack of clear authority, responsibility and accountability for identifying and investing in priority actions and policies to improve water quality standards.” It is in this context that the Tamar Estuary Management Taskforce was established under the City Deal. 2.2
Membership of the Taskforce and its governance Appointed by invitation of the Treasurer, the Hon Peter Gutwein, the Taskforce is Chaired by Allan Garcia, Chief Executive Officer of Infrastructure Tasmania, and includes representation from councils surrounding the Estuary, a State Government agency and other stakeholders with key technical expertise relating to the Estuary. The full membership comprises.
Mayor Christine Holmdahl, West Tamar Council
Mayor Craig Perkins, Meander Valley Council
Councillor Leisa Gordon, Northern Midlands Council
Mayor Bridget Archer, George Town Council
Shane Eberhardt, Launceston City Council
Andrew Fullard, General Manager, Launceston Flood Authority Yüklə 1,91 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
|