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Water Quality

Addressing water quality improvement targets impacting the Great Barrier Reef through improved land management practices, reduced fertiliser and pesticide use, and the uptake of new technology and agricultural practices.

Improving the quality of water entering our Reef.

#Improving the quality of water entering our Reef.

Budget: $199.6 million

Declining water quality associated with run-off from the adjacent catchments is a major cause of the current poor state of many of the coastal and marine ecosystems of the Great Barrier Reef (more on this here).

Almost half of the Reef Trust Partnership funding is allocated to contributing to efforts aimed at addressing water quality issues. Improving water quality is expected to play an important role in improving ecosystem resilience.

The Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan identifies priority catchments and targets for reducing pollution from catchments flowing to the Reef. Funding under the Reef Trust Partnership aims to deliver measurable progress towards those targets.

#End of Partnership Outcomes

The Reef Trust Partnership’s Water Quality component resulted in:

Enduring reduction in long-term end-of-catchment pollutant loads

Conservation and protection of less disturbed catchments

Innovations for system change in water quality improvement

Traditional Owner-led water quality projects increased

Improved water quality program management framework

#Reports and Publications

Investment Pathways Report (Alluvium, 2019)

#Progress Dashboard

Transparency and accountability are key guiding principles for the Foundation in delivering the Reef Trust Partnership.

A series of interactive dashboards has been developed as part of our Monitoring and Evaluation Plan. The dashboards are updated every six months to demonstrate progress towards meeting End-of-Partnership Outcomes. The following dashboard provides a snapshot of key progress areas that deliver the Water Quality Component’s End of Partnership Outcomes.

Find out more about the RTP progress dashboards in these Frequently Asked Questions. 

#Partnership Activities

Our five-year plan for the Water Quality component includes the following six Partnership Activities:

Early investments

Budget: $19.2* million

Significant on-ground resources are required to deliver activities to make progress towards water quality targets. The first funding released under the Reef Trust Partnership Water Quality Component was via a round of water quality grants, focused on projects that would maintain or build on-ground delivery capacity throughout the Reef catchments.

Regional programs

Budget: $138.1* million

Ten regional water quality programs have directly reduced dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), fine sediment, and pesticide loads from priority Reef catchments through proven, on-ground measures for improving water quality including landscape restoration and improved land management practices.

Conservation and protection

Budget: $10 million

The $8.5 million Eastern Cape York Water Quality Program enhanced knowledge of water quality and related ecosystem health in the region and reduced pollutants flowing from the Cape to the Reef. An additional $2.8 million was invested to better understand the role of wetlands in reducing nutrients entering the Reef.

Innovation and system change

Budget: $10 million

There is a need for a transformational change in how water quality improvement activities are designed, funded and implemented. We are supporting activities aimed at making this change a reality. 

Traditional Owner-led water quality activities

Budget: $20 million

Direct investment in Traditional Owner Country-based planning and management for improved water quality outcomes.

Technical Advisory

Budget: $3.3* million

Technical expertise is required to guide program design and implementation, to
ensure the quality of on- ground actions, to manage project data, and to validate outcomes. There are also opportunities to leverage project activities to maximise scientific learning and to support capacity building on the ground.

* Prior to the release of the Annual Work Plan 2021-2022, costs associated with technical advisory work (including the investment pathways consultancy undertaken by Alluvium Consulting) have been embedded within the relevant Partnership Activities. For ease of administration and to improve transparency, these costs are now shown separately. The Technical Advisory budget consists primarily of a re-allocation of 2% of the budget for the regional programs, noting these funds will continue to be used to support those programs.

#News

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