Catchment Management Plan - Hunter Water

Part 1: Introduction1.1 DOCUMENT PurposeProtection of our water sources isparamount and a cornerstone of thewater management approach adoptedby Hunter Water for our catchments.In recognition of this, Hunter Water’sEnterprise Risk Management Processwas applied to the catchmentmanagement condition in drinking watercatchments. The conclusions from thisprocess were that:1. There is a risk to water quality incatchments from current land usepractices.2. Planning protocols need to beimproved to strengthen considerationof drinking water quality impactsfor developments in drinking watercatchments.3. There is no single regulatoryauthority which currently upholdsdrinking water quality in catchments.The Hunter Region would benefit fromclarifying responsibilities and improvingcollaboration between agencies touphold source water quality.In July 2009, Hunter Water endorsed thedevelopment and implementation of acomprehensive Eight Element CatchmentManagement Plan to mitigate the existingand potential risks to the Hunter’s drinkingwater quality. During the past year, theWater Resources Team has begun theimplementation of some of these elementsand produced this Plan document.The Hunter Water CatchmentManagement Plan (CMP):• Is a more proactive approach tocatchment management, recognisingit as an important barrier to waterquality risks,• Supports the strategic objectives fromthe Hunter Water Strategic BusinessPlan (especially produce a safe, highlyreliable water service and protectpeople’s health and enhance theenvironment)• Links with the requirements of theDrinking Water Framework,• Provides the basis for justificationof future expenditure on catchmentmanagement initiatives,• Will be updated and refined as betterknowledge and information becomesavailable.It is envisaged that the Plan will continueto evolve over time as new informationbecomes available and understanding ofcatchments improves. It will be refinedand updated after evaluation by otherstakeholders and as new recommendedpractices emerge. The review cycle willbe each four years in the lead up to theHunter Water’s pricing submission tothe Independent Pricing and RegulatoryTribunal (IPART). In their OperationalAudit 2008-2009 Report to the Minister,IPART recognised that additional focus isnecessary:“Hunter Water . . . is now in aposition to apply the risk basedinformation to develop a CatchmentManagement Plan to guide itsactivities and funding priorities”Hunter Water views the CatchmentManagement Plan as a catalyst for thecollaboration of stakeholders in drinkingwater catchments. It is recognised thatthe long term goal of cleaner catchmentsand better water quality is shared byall and Hunter Water will endeavour tobuild strong partnerships to keep ourcatchments clean.1.2 Overview ofHunter WaterHunter Water is a State OwnedCorporation (SOC) providing water andwastewater services for over half a millionpeople in the lower Hunter region. Ourprimary purpose is to supply reliable andhigh quality water and wastewater servicesto the people of the lower Hunter region.Figure 1: HunterWater’s areaof operations(grey) andcatchments(light blue)Figure 1 shows a schematic of HunterWater’s area of operations and thedrinking water catchments. HunterWater’s area of operations covers5,400km 2 which includes the localgovernment areas of Dungog, Cessnock,Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Newcastleand Port Stephens and small parts ofSingleton. Hunter Water’s catchmentstotal an area of 1450km 2 .CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN . ssS . 001 . JUNE20106