A high-profile community champion is needed to unlock the apathy of most Brisbane residents towards their rivers, as mud from upstream areas continues to pose a major problem to the $7.56 billion tourism and business asset, Moreton Bay.
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On Monday, Griffith University professor Rod Connolly said strong leadership was needed to prevent sediment flowing downstream to Moreton Bay.
"When it enters Moreton Bay it smothers the corals, it smothers the seagrass, it harms the very habitats that provide the wonderful animals - the fish, the dugongs the turtles - that people like to see and people like to harvest," he said.
"It is the generator for the whole tourism industry."
Those comments came after the Sunday release of a survey of 3500 Brisbane residents, which found only 30 per cent would make an effort to clean up their river’s edge - unlike Gold and Sunshine coast residents.
The Queensland government was not represented at the launch of the 2018 report card of water quality in south-east Queensland at The Gap on Monday, though several councillors attended.
"I have noticed that for a very large asset - in the multi-billions of dollars - the amount of action, the amount of funding for action is actually quite small, still," Professor Connolly said.
He declined to comment on why no state government representative was at the launch, but said efforts could benefit from a "community champion".
Healthy Land and Water principal scientist Paul Maxwell said it was a "fine message" to find a community champion to drive enthusiasm to tackle big river revegetation projects.
"I think the policy settings however are right to help the big-scale projects at the regional level," he said.
Former water utilities minister Stephen Robertson, now chairman of Healthy Land and Water, also agreed it was an excellent idea to find a community member to champion the need to control river sediment at a larger scale but declined a political comment.
Overall, southeast Queensland’s river catchments in 2018 rate as a D+, or “poor”.
Healthy Land and Water chief executive Julie McLennan said there had been marginal improvements, with the Bremer River showing some improvement over the past 18 years to D-, from an F.
South-east Queensland’s river network includes the Brisbane, Bremer, Logan, Albert rivers and stretches further north to the Caboolture River and Pumicestone Passage.
Queensland’s premier waterways management authority, Healthy Land and Water, released its 2018 report card into the various catchment areas.
It shows:
Eastern Moreton Bay – rated A, down from A+ | Excellent
“The condition of the eastern side of Moreton Bay slightly declined in 2018 due to a small increase in nitrogen.”
Key features are new seagrass meadows near Clontarf. There is a slight increase in mud and nitrogen detected.
Central Moreton Bay is in a similar condition and is also rated A.
Western Moreton Bay (closest to the river mouth) rated B+, up from B | Good
It includes Deception, Bramble and Waterloo bays. Extensive seagrass meadows are present in the northern part of Moreton Bay.
The mud content in this section of Moreton Bay is moderate.
“Seagrass growth generally in the Western Bay has also improved, with meadows at Godwin Beach in Deception Bay, and Fisherman’s Island in Waterloo Bay growing deeper than at any time since monitoring began in the early 2000’s. This reflects ongoing improvements in water quality in the Western Bay.”
Lower Brisbane (near the city) declined from C- to D+ | Poor
“Pollutant loads have increased, from moderate to high loads, due to increased sediment (mud) generated from urban landscapes this year.
"The catchment received about 73,000 tonnes of sediment this year.
“The health of the estuaries in the catchment declined from fair in 2017 to poor. Overall total nitrogen concentrations increased, and dissolved oxygen concentrations declined, particularly in the mid to upper reaches of the estuary, likely because of increased pollutant load runoff in 2018.”
Mid-Brisbane (from Wivenhoe Dam to Mt Crosby) declined from B- to C- | Poor
“Pollutant loads increased slightly, though remain at very low levels.
About 64 kilograms per hectare of sediment (mud) was generated from the landscapes this year, compared with 26 kilograms per hectare in 2017.
“The health of the freshwater creeks declined, from fair to very poor, due to a decline in ecosystem processes at the one Mid Brisbane catchment freshwater site. "
Upper Brisbane River – remains a D | Very Poor
The catchment runs from Wivenhoe Dam north-west past Esk and towards Kingaroy.
“Pollutant loads increased, from very low to low, due to increased sediment (mud) generated from the landscapes this year. It increased from 35 kilograms per hectare to 212 kilograms per hectare.”
This is because rainfall was below average in 2017, compared to average this year.
“The condition of the freshwater creeks improved slightly though remained very poor. There were improvements in fish and bug community health and water quality at many sites, however ecosystem processes declined overall.”
Lockyer Catchment – remains a D | Very Poor
“The extent of stream bank vegetation throughout the catchment remains poor, with only 69 per cent of stream banks vegetated.
“The health of freshwater creeks in the catchment improved slightly this year though overall health remains very poor. The fish community health at the sites in Deep Gully and Laidley Creek contributed to improvements.”
Bremer River catchment – has improved from D- to D+. Very Poor.
In 2001 this catchment was rated F, but has made a very slow improvement.
This catchment runs from Ipswich, south-west towards Rosevale.
The Council of Mayors (SEQ) last week contributed $2.6 million to begin a revegetation program for the turbid river catchment.
The 2018 report card shows:
“The health of freshwater creeks in the catchment remains poor. Bug community health and ecosystem processes declined slightly, particularly at the Western Creek, Warrill Creek and Purga Creek sites.
“In the mid to upper reaches of the estuary, the overall water quality has improved slightly this year due to the lower pollutant loads runoff from the land. However, the overall health of the estuary remains very poor due to high nutrient concentrations and very poor water clarity.”
