NSW Water Quality and River Flow Objectives About the Objectives Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water   Select from the scrolling list, statewide map or catchment list Select a catchment Barwon-Darling and Far Western Bega River Bellinger River Border Rivers Brunswick River Camden Haven and Hastings River Castlereagh River Clarence River Clyde River and Jervis Bay Cooks River Georges River Gosford and Northern Beaches Lagoons Gwydir River Hacking River Hawkesbury-Nepean River Hunter River Karuah River and Great Lakes Lachlan River Illawarra Lake Macquarie and Tuggerah Lakes Macleay River Macquarie-Bogan River Manning River Moruya River Murray River Murrumbidgee River and Lake George Nambucca River Namoi River Richmond River Shoalhaven River Sydney Harbour and Parramatta River Towamba and Genoa River Tuross River Tweed River Williams River

Tweed River
Water Quality and River Flow Objectives

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• Town water supply subcatchments
• Water Quality Objectives
• River Flow Objectives
• Mainly forested areas
• Water Quality Objectives
• River Flow Objectives
• Waterways affected by urban development
• Water Quality Objectives
• River Flow Objectives
• Uncontrolled streams
• Water Quality Objectives
• River Flow Objectives
• Estuaries
• Water Quality Objectives
• River Flow Objectives

This section gives the Water Quality Objectives (WQOs) and the River Flow Objectives (RFOs) for the Tweed River catchment, which should be used to develop plans and actions affecting water quality and river health. Only the priority RFOs are listed in this section, but the remaining objectives still need to be considered when developing flow management plans or dealing with particular local river conditions.

Town water supply subcatchments

Streams in town water supply subcatchments typically feed into a town's water supply storage. In many cases the catchment may be declared as specially protected to minimise the land-use impacts on water quality.

Map: These sub-catchments are coloured light blue on the map.

Water Quality Objectives

Protection of:

 Aquatic ecosystems

 Visual amenity

 Drinking water-Disinfection only

 Drinking water-Clarification and disinfection

 Drinking water-Groundwater

River Flow Objectives

 Protect pools in dry times

 Protect natural low flows

 Protect important rises in water levels

 Mimic natural drying in temporary waterways

 Maintain natural flow variability

 Maintain natural rates of change in water levels

 Manage groundwater for ecosystems

 Minimise effects of weirs and other structures

 Minimise effects of dams on water quality

 Make water available for unforeseen events

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Supporting information

• This category includes the Clarrie Hall Dam catchment on Doon Doon Creek.
• To ensure long-term achievement of these WQOs, existing land-management programs aimed at maintaining or improving drinking-water quality should continue and be reviewed.
• Town water supplies will not need to be augmented to meet these objectives. However, if augmentation is proposed for other reasons, appropriate levels of protection of low flows should be determined on a case-by-case basis.
• Local factors include maintaining natural flows from springs (groundwater) and the effects of land management on volumes and times of runoff, particularly in droughts; the flow needs of ecosystems and people within the area; the reliability of town water supplies; and the needs of ecosystems and people downstream.

Mainly forested areas

Streams in mainly forested areas are often valued for their conservation or recreational values. They often have relatively natural flows and water quality. Many are in national parks or state forests.

Map: The objectives apply to streams running through areas coloured green on the map (state forests, national parks and nature reserves); and to other forested areas, if any are defined locally.

Water Quality Objectives

Protection of:

River Flow Objectives

Supporting information

• This category includes streams in the Nullum, Wollumbin and Mebbin state forests and Mount Warning and parts of Nightcap national parks. Where these streams have areas of rural land use upstream, these objectives will need to be protected.
• There may be locations where Aboriginal communities collect freshwater aquatic foods for eating raw. NSW Health recommends against the consumption of raw shellfish harvested on a non-commercial basis and local communities should be made aware of the risks involved.
• RFO Manage groundwater for ecosystems applies in areas of groundwater use.
• There are few barriers instream in waterways in this category, but RFO Minimise the effects of weirs and other structures is included in case instream structures are proposed in the future.

Waterways affected by urban development

Streams within urban areas are often substantially modified and carry poor quality stormwater. Many local communities are keen to see such streams returned to more natural conditions.

Map: Urban development areas are shown in orange on the map.

Water Quality Objectives

Protection of:

	Aquatic ecosystems
	Visual amenity
	Secondary contact recreation, as a short-term objective, within 5 years
	Primary contact recreation: assess opportunities to achieve as a longer term objective, 10 years or more

River Flow Objectives

	Mimic natural drying in temporary waterways
	Maintain natural flow variability
	Maintain natural rates of change in water levels
	Manage groundwater for ecosystems
	Minimise effects of weirs and other structures

Supporting information

• This category includes the towns of Tweed Heads, Fingal, Condong, Bogangar, Hastings Point, Pottsville, Murwillumbah and Tyalgum.
• In some urban waterways aquatic ecosystems are considerably modified. A return to pristine aquatic ecosystems in these areas is unlikely and impractical. However, water quality conditions for existing ecosystems can be improved greatly for the benefit of local species and broader catchment health. Data from other local aquatic ecosystems of similar type, in areas that are not urbanised, may provide achievable criteria for these modified aquatic ecosystems.
• Existing programs include the Urban Stormwater Management Program, which includes a stormwater education program, the development of stormwater plans and series of stormwater trust grants. This program funded the investigation and installation of a gross pollutant trap at Tweed Heads up to a value of $112,900. Tweed Heads Council has also received a grant of $168,000 for the installation of a gross pollutant interceptor and for wetland enhancement in Tweed Heads south.

Uncontrolled streams

These uncontrolled streams and waterbodies are not in estuaries or the other categories. Their flow patterns are largely natural but may have been altered to a limited degree.

Map: Uncontrolled streams are shown as blue lines on the map.

Water Quality Objectives

Protection of:

	Aquatic ecosystems
	Visual amenity
	Secondary contact recreation
	Primary contact recreation
	Livestock water supply
	Irrigation water supply
	Homestead water supply
	Drinking water at point of supply-Disinfection only
	Drinking water at point of supply-Clarification and disinfection
	Drinking water at point of supply-Groundwater
	Aquatic foods (cooked)

River Flow Objectives

	Protect pools in dry times
	Protect natural low flows
	Protect important rises in water levels
	Mimic natural drying in temporary waterways
	Maintain natural flow variability
	Minimise effects of weirs and other structures

Supporting information

• Some streams in this category include significant town water supply offtakes from weir pools at Bray Park (for Murwillumbah) and upstream of Tyalgum. Management of these offtake areas and those immediately upstream will need to identify all pollutant threats to sustainable drinking water.
• There may be locations where Aboriginal communities collect freshwater aquatic foods, although this is apparently not a common practice. NSW Health recommends against the consumption of raw shellfish harvested on a non-commercial basis and local communities should be made aware of the risks involved.

Estuaries

Being dominated by saline conditions,estuaries have hydraulic and water quality characteristics, and potential problems, that are often very different from those of freshwater systems.

Map: Estuaries are coloured purple on the map.

Water Quality Objectives

Protection of:

	Aquatic ecosystems
	Visual amenity
	Secondary contact recreation
	Primary contact recreation
	Aquatic foods (cooked) and commercial shellfish production

River Flow Objectives

	Maintain wetland and floodplain inundation
	Manage groundwater for ecosystems
	Minimise effects of weirs and other structures
	Maintain or rehabilitate estuarine processes and habitats

Supporting information

• This category includes the Tweed, Cobaki and Terranora broadwaters, Cudgen Creek, Cudgen Lake, and the Cudgera Creek and Mooball Creek estuaries.
• The Tweed Shellfish Quality Assurance Program conducts regular monitoring of estuarine water quality as part of action to support commercial shellfish production.
• Dredging and drainage works on the floodplain can have major impacts, since most of the lakes and the lower reaches of the creeks are underlain by potential acid sulfate soils, which should not be disturbed.
• There are ongoing problems in the estuary due to the release of highly acidic waters from acid sulfate soil areas. The management plan will need to give careful consideration to how to deal with this issue.

This page was published 1 May 2006