CAN WE SAVE SYDNEY'S STREAMS?

摘要

Gordon and Lovers Jump Creeks are located in Ku-ring-gai Local Government Area in Sydney. While the upper catchment of each creek is urbanised, the lower catchments are remnant bushland and the creeks retain significant natural value. This paper describes the development of a catchment management plan for each of the creeks, with an overarching objective to restore and protect stream health. The strategy considered the potential actions that the local Council could take to improve stream health, including construction of stormwater treatment and harvesting systems within the public domain, applying controls to new development, and providing incentives and support for retrofits on private property. The study found that if development patterns continue as per recent years, it will be impossible to meet stream health objectives within 50 years, unless both development controls and residential retrofits form a significant element of the overall strategy for each catchment. A key implication, if stream health is to be preserved in urban areas, is the need to focus on effective planning controls and programs for widespread lot-scale Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) adoption.