The NSW Government will trial a new approach to improving waterway health and water quality outcomes with the appointment of a Richmond River Coordinator.
The Minns Labor Government is committed to finding practical solutions to better water quality governance and deliver healthier waterways and ecosystems in NSW.
The Richmond River catchment has been selected as the first demonstration of how an Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) approach can achieve these outcomes.
A Richmond River Catchment Coordinator will be appointed to lead day-to-day coordination across government and work with local partners to align existing projects and funding opportunities to improve catchment health.
The coordinator will also lead development of a Richmond River Catchment Improvement Plan to consolidate existing priorities, projects and commitments across the catchment, providing a shared framework to coordinate action and guide future investment.
The NSW Government will also invest $500,000 in new funding for the rehabilitation of Tuckean Swamp through a Low Carbon Landscapes grant.
Tuckean Swamp is one of the region's highest-priority coastal floodplains and a significant contributor to water quality risks in the Richmond catchment.
Delivered in partnership by DCCEEW and DPIRD, the Tuckean Swamp Blue Carbon Demonstration Site project will investigate restoration of tidal connectivity to improve water quality and support ecosystem resilience, providing an example of integrated catchment management in action.
Waterways are connected systems, meaning land use and water management decisions upstream in a waterway, influence downstream outcomes.
This is why, historically, efforts to improve waterway and catchment health have proved so challenging.
The Richmond River catchment faces complex water quality challenges driven by historical land use change, environmental degradation and escalating impacts of climate change, highlighting the need for coordinated, catchment-wide management to protect the ecosystem.
The catchment benefits from substantial existing investment, strong partnerships, active stakeholder participation and high community interest, making it the ideal test ground for ICM.
Informed by the work of the Richmond River Catchment Partnership, the project will continue partnering with local stakeholders to maximise the impact of existing efforts and investment.
The new trial includes funding to ensure the essential network of real-time water quality loggers in the Lower Richmond is maintained and water quality information is available and reported.
The trial will bring together existing investment, partnerships and on-ground programs to better align efforts around shared catchment priorities.
It is hoped the two-year project in the Richmond River Catchment will inform future implementation across other catchments areas in NSW.
This is the next step in transitioning towards an integrated catchment management approach in NSW, building on priorities identified through the Restoring the Darling-Baaka Program and the NSW Water Quality Governance Roadmap to implement a better coordinated system in practice.
Minister for Water Rose Jackson said:
"We take calls for improved water quality governance seriously. It's why we introduced the NSW Water Quality Governance Roadmap to set out the pathways that would drive better waterway health.
"The Richmond River catchment is uniquely placed to take this work forward with significant efforts already underway to improve water quality, restore ecosystems, strengthen resilience and support sustainable land and water management.
"By bringing all efforts together in a coordinated way, we hope to provide evidence to assist in the application of an integrated catchment management approach in other NSW catchments."
Minister for North Coast Janelle Saffin said:
"Everyone wants government to be more accountable for driving better outcomes for the Richmond River and to ensure the work that is needed to be done, is done. That is key.
"We all know the Richmond River needs to be cleaned up, but where do we start? What do we concentrate on first. We need a roadmap to do that.
"This Coordinator will give us the roadmap, the pathway forward in agreement with the relevant authorities with community involved every step of the way."
