Water quality at The Haven, Terrigal and NSW Water Quality Objectives Seminar

Water quality is a major concern for residents of the central coast, with the popular beach and ocean swimming site at The Haven, Terrigal having received a rating of ‘poor’ in a number of annual State of the Beaches reports.

The NSW Government and Central Coast Council have been working on a number of actions to address water quality at these locations.  Join us to hear about the Terrigal Water Quality Audit.

Terrigal water quality audit

Presented by Colin Johnson, Senior Scientist with the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment’s Science Division and Melanie James (Estuary Management Officer, Central Coast Council), we will hear about this innovative approach to assessing the sources of pollution affecting water quality at Terrigal Beach and The Haven. The audit built on an extensive water quality testing regime to use state of the art DNA markers to determine the source of microbial pollution. This testing examined the effects of sewage overflows, bird feces and run-off from dog parks within the catchment. Further details of the audit can be found here: Terrigal water quality audit.

NSW Water Quality Objectives – community environmental values and uses of waterways

Dr Rachael Woods, Senior Scientist with the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment will discuss the review of NSW Water Quality Objectives and the Department’s current engagement campaign.

The NSW Water Quality Objectives set environmental values and long-term goals for NSW’s surface waters. They set out: the community’s values and uses for our waterways and establish water quality indicators to help us assess whether the current condition of our waterways supports those values and uses.

The Department is currently undertaking an engagement campaign to examine community environmental values and uses of waterways. The engagement campaign was launched in December of 2020 with the release of an online survey. This engagement campaign is focused on all waterways along the NSW coast, including freshwater rivers, estuaries and creeks. The Department wants to know how local communities use and value the coastal waterways of NSW including where they live, visit and holiday.

The information gathered through this process will help Local Council’s develop strategic planning documents and also deliver on a number of actions under the Marine Estate Management Strategy. All information gathered will be shared with Local Councils and the community.

Missed the webinar? View the recording now!