Introduction:
the why, what, who and where to from here

In 2003 the Australian and Queensland Governments jointly developed the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan
(Reef Plan) in response to threats posed to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) from diffuse agricultural sources of
pollution. Reef Plan identifies actions, mechanisms and partnerships to build on existing Government policies, and industry and community initiatives to assist in halting and reversing the decline in the quality of water entering
the GBR lagoon from reef catchments. More specifically, Reef Plan identifies the need to develop Water Quality
Improvement Plans (WQIPs) in priority GBR catchments; the Burdekin is one of these priority catchments.

Under the Coastal Catchments Initiative (CCI), an Australian Government program aimed at delivering
significant, targeted reductions in the discharge of pollutants to agreed hotspots, NQ Dry Tropics was
contracted to prepare a WQIP for the Burdekin region. The contractual arrangements provided a structured approach to development of the Burdekin WQIP. WQIPs, funded by the Australian Government, have also been developed
for other priority GBR catchments in surrounding regions (e.g. Tully-Murray catchment and Mackay Whitsunday
region) and the predominantly urban environment of the Black Ross catchments (including Townsville) within the
Burdekin Dry Tropics NRM region.

The CCI project was implemented by NQ Dry Tropics in collaboration with Queensland Government agencies, science providers, industry and the community. It aimed to align activities and apply tools and techniques for target-setting under Reef Plan, and to identify and develop strategies to achieve these targets through the voluntary uptake of land management practice change. Effective industry engagement was identified early on as a key strategy to achieve pollution reductions in runoff
from agricultural areas. This engagement supported the identification of region-specific land management
practices that would improve the quality of water leaving grazing properties and sugar farms. The WQIP planning
process was guided by an Advisory Committee made up of key stakeholders.

The Burdekin WQIP will be aligned with the Burdekin Dry Tropics NRM Plan and Regional Investment Strategy. The
Burdekin WQIP will support an agreed approach by the Australian and Queensland Governments to reducing
pollution from agricultural areas under Reef Plan.

1.1 About this document

The Burdekin Water Quality Improvement Plan (Burdekin WQIP or BWQIP) represents a strategy that
has been developed by a range of partner organizations and individuals, including landholders, industry bodies, the scientific community, Government and the NQ Dry Tropics. It aims to reduce the loss of sediment, nutrients
and pesticides from agricultural land within our region. Sediments, nutrients and pesticides lost from agricultural
lands not only represent a loss of productivity and a cost to landholders, but also result in environmental
degradation. Ultimately, they impact on important aquatic habitats and ecosystems downstream and enter the Great
Barrier Reef (GBR) World Heritage Area.

The Burdekin WQIP, when fully implemented, will result in targeted reductions in sediment, nutrients and pesticides
entering our waterways. However, implementation of the broad range of actions and strategies contained within
the Burdekin WQIP will deliver more than better water for the Burdekin; it will underpin a better quality of life and
development of a more socially resilient community in the face of uncertain social, economic and climatic change. Better water from the Burdekin is critical to the long term ecological health of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR)
and socio-economic development beyond our region.

This document aims to communicate the Burdekin WQIP to landholders and other community members, and the
broader range of stakeholders in our natural environment (industry bodies, scientists, government). All members
of our community, including many living outside the combined Burdekin and Haughton River catchments
within population centres such as Townsville, have an interest and stake in good water quality and a healthy
aquatic environment.

The environmental values of water that we are seeking to protect through the Burdekin WQIP are those of aquatic
ecosystems themselves and the range of uses and values that we as a community attribute to water. We recognise
that the full range of environmental values of water within our region is poorly documented and we will continue to
improve our knowledge and understanding of the uses and values of water at the subcatchment scale.

The region of immediate relevance to the Burdekin WQIP includes the rivers, creeks and their watersheds that
discharge into Upstart and Bowling Green Bays. This area covers the extensive rangelands of the Burdekin and Haughton River catchments, and coastal floodplain of the Lower Burdekin with its numerous small creeks, intensive agriculture and complex system of irrigation channels. Discharge from the Burdekin River during wet season event flows quite frequently extends northwards for over a hundred kilometres and may during flood conditions cover an area of the GBR that is greater than several thousand square kilometres; such is the influence of this large river.