Catchment audits

The Sydney drinking water catchment area supplies water for more than four million people. An audit of the state of the land in the Sydney drinking water catchment is a requirement of the Sydney Water Catchment Management Act 1998 and a report on the audit must be provided to the Minister responsible for the Sydney Catchment Authority.

The terms of reference for the audit require that:

  • the audit and report on the catchment must be consistent with current methods used for the NSW State of the Environment reporting, focusing on the priority sub-catchments
  • the auditors must consult with stakeholders in and outside of the catchment to seek comments about the state of the catchment.

The independent audit of the health of the catchments has been required at least every two years. This requirement has recently been extended to at least every three years in line with NSW State of the Environment reporting.

You can access past audits of the Sydney drinking water catchments through the links below.

1999 Audit of the Sydney drinking water supply catchments

2001 Audit of the Sydney drinking water supply catchments

2003 Audit of the Sydney drinking water supply catchments

2005 Audit of the Sydney drinking water supply catchments

2007 Audit of the Sydney drinking water supply catchments

2010 Audit of the Sydney drinking water supply catchments 

Catchment health indicators

Following amendments to the Sydney Water Catchment Management Act 1998 in 2007, catchment audits must now assess the health of catchment areas using the catchment health indicators developed under section 42 of the Act.

In consultation with the SCA and other stakeholders, the Department of Water and Energy developed a list of 18 catchment health 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 how they were selected, the recommended methodology to collect data, and the agencies responsible for collecting indicator data.