Catchment Health Indicators
Following amendments to the Sydney Water Catchment Management Act 1998 in 2007, catchment audits are now required to assess the health of catchment areas using the catchment health indicators developed under section 42 of the Act.
In October 2008 the Minister for Water, the Hon. Phil Costa, MP, appointed the Department of Water and Energy (now the NSW Office of Water) to develop, approve and publish catchment health indicators for the Sydney drinking water catchment area.
In consultation with the Sydney Catchment Authority and other stakeholders, the Department of Water and Energy developed a list of 18 gazetted indicators that were approved and published in the NSW Government Gazette No. 158 on Friday 19 December 2008.
The report, Development of Catchment Health - indicators for the drinking water catchments - Sydney, the Illawarra, Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven (December 2009), lists the catchment health indicators, outlines the process for selecting indicators, summarises the recommended methodology to collect data, and identifies the agencies responsible for collecting indicator data.
