Catchment management
The Sydney Catchment Authoriy's (SCA) role is to manage and protect the catchment areas supplying water to the Sydney region.
Some of our key catchment management activities are listed below.
Planning
The State Environmental Planning Policy (Sydney Drinking Water Catchment) 2011 (which replaces the Regional Plan - Sustaining the Catchments: a regional plan for the drinking water catchments of Sydney and adjacent regional centres) provides a range of tools for the SCA, including:
Neutral or beneficial effect test
The SCA works with councils and other state agencies to assess development proposals to ensure that they have a neutral or beneficial effect on water quality.
Strategic land and water capability assessments
The SCA has developed accurate strategic land and water capability assessments that councils can use to prepare and review local environment plans to ensure future land use will not adversely impact on water quality.
Current recommended practices
The SCA identifies and promotes current recommended practices that have been tried and tested locally or developed collaboratively by experts and practitioners.
Catchment information system
The SCA is building on existing information systems so that catchment information held by the SCA can be easily accessed to support sound decision-making.
Regulation
The Sydney Water Catchment Management Regulation 2008 allows the SCA to protect water quality and manage the catchments by exercising certain regulatory functions over non-scheduled premises and activities under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997.
Special Areas Strategic Plan of Management
The Special Areas Strategic Plan of Management is a long-term plan to provide high quality water in the storages, ensure ecosystem integrity and improve the environmental quality of the catchment areas. The plan is jointly implemented by the SCA and the Office of Environment and Heritage.
On-ground activities
SCA field staff undertake a range of routine, on-ground management activities in the catchments, such as pest control, fire control, erosion control and repair, regulating access, containing spills, chemical collections, and weed control.
Many successful projects are undertaken jointly with landholders and community groups, and with other agencies. Examples include:
- rehabilitating mines
- managing and protecting fragile areas such as Wingecarribee Swamp
- auditing contaminated sites in the catchments
- remedial works on individual properties such as stabilising riverbanks, removing willows, revegetation and riverbank fencing.
