Catchment to Coast Project

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (14:56): My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. Can the minister update the chamber about the Environmental Protection Authority Catchment to Coast project and how it is engaging local communities to become more involved in the health of our urban waterways and coastal areas?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:57): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. The Environment Protection Authority released the Adelaide Coastal Water Management Quality Improvement Plan in July 2013 based on the Adelaide Coastal Waters Study.

The plan gives effect to the 14 recommendations of the final report of the Adelaide Coastal Waters Study. The study found that discharges from wastewater and stormwater resulted in a loss of seagrass, reduction in water quality and sediment instability along the Adelaide coastline. In response to this, the Adelaide Coastal Water Quality Improvement Plan sets out eight strategies to address conditions of our coastal waters. These include reducing the loads of nutrients and sediments washing into Adelaide's beaches and promoting activities that people can undertake to improve coastal water quality.

The EPA was successful in obtaining $2 million of funding under the Australian government's Caring for our Country funding program, now called the National Landcare Program. This funding is being used to implement certain sections of the Adelaide Coastal Water Quality Improvement Plan and is referred to as the Catchment to Coast project. This includes information sharing, educational programs in schools, demonstration sites for water sensitive urban design, Aboriginal engagement, the Rain Garden 500 grants program and additional water quality monitoring work.

The Catchment to Coast project is a highly collaborative initiative. The federal funding will be matched with in-kind support from the EPA and project partners including DEWNR, natural resources, Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, SA Water, local government and other organisations. The funding is being used to run local capacity-building projects and some monitoring activities. Our partners include local councils, local Aboriginal groups, research, community and education groups.

The Rain Garden 500 grants program, for example, one of the initiatives of the Catchment to Coast project, is a fantastic local initiative. It aims to improve the management of stormwater by encouraging local governments, community groups, schools, businesses, sporting clubs and even individuals to apply for funding to build rain gardens in the Adelaide region.

The purpose of the rain gardens is to improve the quality of stormwater from our streets and other hard surfaces, such as car parks, before it travels to our local creeks and then on to the sea. Funding grants from $3,000 to $50,000 are available for the development of rain gardens in urban street environments. This financial year, seven rain gardens from four councils, Mitcham, Unley, Campbelltown and Onkaparinga, and also the RAA are expected to be delivered under the Catchment to Coast project. Further rounds of funding will be offered in 2016-17, I am advised, with a call for grant applications expected early in the year.

The Catchment to Coast program also supports the work that a number of local councils are doing to manage stormwater in a more clever way. With nitrogen reductions to Adelaide's coast well underway, improved management of stormwater is the key to the eventual return of seagrass to our coast. SA Water has invested $630 million over the past 20 years to reduce the amount of nitrogen discharged to metropolitan waters, which has resulted in a reduction, I am advised, of close to 75 per cent to the nitrogen load.

Substantial investment has been made to upgrade wastewater treatment plants at Bolivar, Christies Beach and Glenelg, as well as the development of water re-use schemes in locations like Mawson Lakes and Virginia. The impact of this work means there has been a reduction of more than 1,800 tonnes a year in the amount of nitrogen being discharged into the ocean from wastewater treatment plants in metropolitan areas since the mid-nineties. The total reduction since 1996, I am advised, is more than 24,000 tonnes, which I think is an incredible outcome.

This focused effort to reduce the impact to coastal water quality over the past 20 years means we have been able to stop the loss of seagrass in some areas of Gulf St Vincent and, indeed, in some areas we are seeing its gradual return. Wide uptake of improved stormwater management will also provide early benefits in the form of clearer swimming water and improved safety and amenity of our coastal environment.

The EPA's work on the Catchment to Coast project and the implementation of the plan under the National Landcare Program funding will continue, as I said, to June 2018. This is a very important start to a process of water quality improvement and a return, hopefully, of seagrass right along the Adelaide coast, but that will take some time. However, with so many organisations, agencies and individuals working together to improve our coastal waters, we can expect to see these great results into the future. This will bring social, economic and environmental benefits to the state in the longer term.

I would like to commend, at this stage, the EPA for this important work, and thank our very important partners in local government, community and business for working with us on the Catchment to Coast project.