Under the National Action Plan and Natural Heritage Trust, funding
assistance for regions will be based on Regional Natural Resource Management
(NRM) plans which are required to specify targets for the maintenance and improvement of the natural resources within these catchments, particularly in relation to salinity, water quality and
biodiversity. These targets will be based on agreed national standards and progress towards improved natural resource condition will be assessed against them.
Water Quality Targets Online has been designed to assist regional groups to identify the environmental values of water and to set appropriate water quality targets for their catchments/region. These targets will be used in turn to guide investments, management and progress towards attainment of regional goals.
Water Quality Targets Online includes default targets derived from the Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality (2000), hereafter called the Water Quality Guidelines. The Water Quality Guidelines, provides comprehensive information and procedures for setting more specific water quality targets tailored for unique conditions for a range of pollutants or indicators and may be used to further customise water quality targets for local conditions. In some instances locally specific water quality targets for individual systems may already have been determined (for example, rivers flowing into The Great Barrier Reef). In such cases, these locally specific targets should be used in preference to the default targets contained in Water Quality Targets Online.
For further information
visit www.ea.gov.au/water/quality/targets
