Brisbane River Catchment

Agriculture and livestock grazing are dominant land uses in the upper catchments of the eastern-flowing river systems of Australia. While these enterprises are highly valued for their income generating services, concern is growing over their impact on other ecosystem services in the major catchments, especially the impact on water quality for urban and industrial uses downstream. Deteriorating water quality imposes substantial public costs, especially for damages, lost amenity and treatment. Landscape design principles have been developed by CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems to sustainably manage agricultural landscapes and protect biodiversity. The principles also address the need to reduce the leakage of agricultural pollutants into local watercourses. However, the adoption of these principles involves significant private costs to landholders. The project seeks to quantify the potential economic tradeoffs involved between implementing mitigation strategies through vegetation retention on farms in the upper catchments and addressing the damage at the downstream user end. Emu Creek Catchment, a major sub-catchment of the Brisbane River Catchment, is used as a case study.

Emu Creek Catchment is located on the edge of the Great Dividing Range to the north of Toowoomba and is a major sub-catchment of the Brisbane River watershed. Livestock grazing, mixed farming, forestry, peri-urban lifestyle farming and horticulture dominate its principal landuses. The catchment and two adjoining ones have been identified by hydrological modelling to be a potentially major source of water-borne pollutants to the Brisbane River, especially the major storage impoundments supplying the bulk of water for S.E. Queensland's urban population. The study will link on-farm retention of vegetation consistent with landscape design principles to water quality levels in the catchment, especially as delivered to urban reticulation agencies through Wivenhoe Dam. Opportunity costing techniques will compare the tradeoff between preventing water leaking from agricultural landscapes in the sub-catchment and changing water quality to consumers through treatment in the lower catchment distribution network. This should provide a minimum estimate of the value of ecosystem services provided by the filtering function of native vegetation.

Project stakeholders

1. CSIRO
2. Emu Creek Catchment Association

Project team and contact details:

Neil MacLeod
CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
Long Pocket Laboratories
120 Meiers Road
Indooroopilly QLD 4068
Neil.Macleod@csiro.au

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