Healthy Catchments Strategy 2009-2012

The Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA) has developed the Healthy Catchments Strategy 2009-2012 to outline how we are working to protect and improve the health of the drinking water catchments of Sydney and adjacent regional areas. It presents an innovative approach to catchment management including a new way of prioritising catchment health activities.

The SCA drinking water catchments provide quality water to more than four million people in NSW. Covering 16,000 square kilometres, the catchments are diverse environments with a variety of land uses and are home to many separate and distinct communities.

The SCA is responsible for protecting the health of these drinking water catchments in partnership with local councils, landholders, government agencies, industry and other community stakeholders. Our specific responsibilities are set out in legislation and the State Environmental Planning Policy (Sydney Drinking Water Catchment) 2011 (previously the Drinking Water Catchments Regional Environmental Plan No 1).

This Strategy will guide the development of our annual program of catchment health activities – the Healthy Catchments Program. It describes how we will use our Catchment Decision Support System to bring together the best science and technical information, best management practices, and experience of landowners and other catchment stakeholders. This information is used to identify and prioritise catchment risks to water quality. We then develop and undertake management activities to address these priority areas, and monitor and evaluate these activities. 

The SCA acknowledges that support from our partners and the community is essential to achieve healthy catchments. The Strategy was developed with input and feedback from other government agencies, local councils and in consultation with the broader community. The SCA will continue to work collaboratively with our partners to protect and improve the health of the drinking water catchments.

This online report is organised into the following main areas:

You can also download the following documents as a single PDF: