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The Logan and Albert River are considered by many as places of spiritual significance and an essential natural resource for the region, providing goods and services like drinking water, irrigation, leisure and recreation. They are also key wildlife corridors from the mountains to the bay and support Logan City’s business, industry, aquaculture and tourism sectors. However, in recent years the quality of the water, especially in the Logan River, has become very turbid. The Logan-Albert catchment is the third largest in South East Queensland (SEQ) with a combined area of approximately 3,800km2. It is located to south of Brisbane with its headwaters in the McPherson and Main Ranges on the NSW border. The Albert River joins the Logan River near Eagleby, 11km upstream of its mouth.
Being one of the largest catchments in SEQ, it is considered one of the regions fastest growing areas. Specifically, the lower Logan River corridor is vitally important to the region as a floodplain. Maintaining this function will allow the high growth areas to occur without the social and economic costs associated with poor past planning decisions in other river corridors. Much of the lower Logan River corridor is in private ownership and regional investment in key public recreation nodes and setbacks along with strong regulation will allow this floodplain function to continue.
Investment in the waterways of the Logan-Albert catchment will ensure this economically important area of the region continues to maintain its green and liveable image.
The annual Healthy Waterways Report Card for the waterways and catchments of South East Queensland in 2007 rated the condition of the Logan River as “very poor.” Much of the environmental degradation has been caused by land clearing, the Bromelton Industrial Estate, nutrient run-off, and pumping wastewater directly from several wastewater treatment plants in and around the Logan River. In 2009, the Healthy Waterways Ecosystem Health Monitoring Program rated the River’s freshwater area at a “D”; its Estuarine area was given an “F”. Moreover, historically, cholera has been found in the Logan River from 1977.
Additionally, the water quality of the Albert River remains in relatively good condition until it merges with the Logan River, where the quality declines. Residential and industry development and land clearing in the catchment have deteriorated the water quality of the Albert River, particularly in its lower reaches. Key environmental issues that face the catchment are rapid population increase and development; altered flow patterns of the creek causing active erosion; deteriorating water quality; increased noise and vehicle movements; waste disposal; invasion of bushland by exotic plants and animals; management of the extractive industries; and day-to-day behaviour of residents and workers of the catchment.
Consistent with the published Logan Destination Management Plan, Oceans Harmony aims to exploit tourism opportunities derivable from the Logan river, possible through its revitalisation. Specifically, Logan is a relatively youthful tourism destination and opportunities identified through a destination management plan partnership with Oceans Harmony would offer selective product areas – such as sports-based tourism activity, cultural-based tourism, culinary/food tourism – to focus on, rather than positioning Logan as a traditional mainstream holiday destination and competing with major surrounding destinations/brands such as the Gold Coast and Brisbane which have developed and grown over many years. Furthermore, ‘direct visitor spend’ for the city of Logan in 2016 was $346 million and is projected to grow over the next 10 years with effective destination management. As cited in the Logan Destination Management Plan, possible benefits derivable for the City of Logan through Oceans Harmony’s dedication to improvement and conservation would include:
• Help grow the visitor economy on a sustainable basis.
• Identify new development and related solutions to attract investment and grow economic benefits, such as employment.
• Provide direction on key marketing activities to support increased visitor demand for the City of Logan.
• Help build stronger local community awareness of the importance and value of the visitor economy.
• Strategic focus on key attractions and experiences to encourage longer visitor stays and increased visitor spend.
• Encourage indirect investment into other products and services.
These benefits, in turn, would increase contribution to employment and economic output as well as increased spending on accommodation, food services and attractions.
Additionally, consultation and surveying of the waterways-based tourism and marina sectors found safe and accessible waterways in good environmental condition were fundamental to driving consumer demand and facilitating business operations. Both of these sectors derive significant degrees of economic activity directly and indirectly from the waterways. Specifically, Economic research and modelling undertaken for this project found that the contribution of waterways to the regional economy is significant:
• Waterways underpin significant economic activity, with an estimated contribution to regional Gross Regional Product (GRP) of around $440 million (medium estimate).
• Including flow-on impacts, the contribution is around $770 million (medium estimate)
Take, for example, the Gold Coasts tourism industry, which is based largely around its serene, beautiful waterways and surrounding cities as a bustling economic centre with surveillance showing that 91% of the population either agreed or strongly agreed that waterways are a significant reason why they chose to live on the Gold Coast, and 96% agreed or strongly agreed that waterways contribute to their personal health and wellbeing. Waterway access, safety and condition were also important factors with over 80% of respondents agreeing that if these declined they would reduce the frequency of their visitation, and over 50% agreeing that they would consider moving away from the Gold Coast if these attributes were not maintained.
Despite a clear need for destination management within the catchment areas of the Logan and Albert river, Oceans’ Harmony possesses the desire to expand our operations to reference all rivers and waterways in South East Queensland as we see fit. Specifically, the Queensland Government Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (now Department of Environment and Science) commissioned a ‘sustainable pollutant loads for target setting’ report in August of 2018 which provides supporting information for the development of pollutant load targets for SEQ catchments. The report focusses on three main pollutants—nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment—which are the primary threats to the environmental, social and economic values that the SEQ community has for their waterways. Given the nature of urbanisation, tourism and moving towards the ‘modern age’, neglect towards these rivers and catchments have set it, their true potential for economic growth not yet having been reached given the effects of run-off and environmental degradation caused by land clearing.
Management of ecosystem health within Moreton Bay and Southeast Queensland’s major estuaries has been at the forefront of environmental planning initiatives in the region since the mid- 1990s. Underpinning these initiatives has been the commissioning and completion of several numerical modelling studies, where study outcomes have been used, to various extents, to inform environmental policy and the direction of investment. In response to several drivers, including the desire to plan for future urban development and catchment management including load reduction initiatives.
The SEQ region continues to experience the fastest urban growth rate in Australia. By 2031, the population is expected to reach around four million people—an increase of more than one million people over two decades. As such, Oceans’ Harmony plans to play a role in the conservation and regeneration of these beautiful waterway and catchment areas.
Possible areas for examination:
From the nominated areas, a destination management plan with specific measurable activity may be derived.
In a study conducted by ‘Engineers Australia’ in 2014 regarding Australian rainfall and runoff, it was found that urban development has replaced large areas of vegetated ground with impervious surfaces. This means that the process of transpiration and evaporation into the atmosphere is disjointed, creating an increase in storm water runoff. The study also found that storm water carries numerous pollutants, which may include coolant, grease, oil and heavy metals from cars; fertilisers, pesticides and other chemicals from homes and businesses; bacteria from pest waste and failing septic systems; as well as sediment from construction sites. If not properly managed, the volume of storm water has the potential to flood and damage businesses and homes, flood septic system drain fields, erode stream channels and destroy or damage wildlife habitats. In addition, less water soaks into the ground meaning that drinking water supplies are not replenished and wetlands and streams are not recharged. This can lead to a water shortage and inadequate stream flow for aquatic life. In addition, runoff in Australian cities exceeds the volume of water drawn from their catchments and groundwater sources, which is an estimated total of 2100 gigalitres.
Ocean Harmony aims to address the issue of storm water runoff through the use of green infrastructure. Green infrastructure tackles water woes and boosts climate resilience by depending on plants, natural systems and soils to manage rainfall runoff. By mimicking the natural hydrological process, green infrastructure uses natural elements (like soil and plants) to turn rainfall into a resource, rather than waste. Green infrastructure also aims to increase the quantity and quality of local water supplies, providing a myriad of other economic, health and environmental benefits, which can be a major problem in nature-starved urban areas. These green infrastructures will be implemented in the Albert and Logan rivers and their surrounding environment.
Potential green infrastructures include:
Expected outputs of this project include reports, transferrable tools, peer reviewed papers and STEM education at multiple tertiary levels. The expected project outcomes is an increase in national capabilities for assessing storm water runoff hazards and implementing cost-effective green infrastructure practices for urban storm water management. In addition, it is anticipated that, through research and application of green infrastructure, Australian cities will be able to lower the volume of storm water runoff and better manage it to reduce damage. Oceans Harmony will measure and report on the outcomes of our research and implementation of green infrastructure through continual documentation. This will be published through journal articles and on the official website with blog posts and a planned web series that will highlight the positive changes in the environment that have occurred.
Oceans Harmony also anticipates that a wealth of employment can be derived from our mission, aiding in the implementation of TAFE modules on conservation skills for occupation. Oceans Harmony aims to partner with Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) to provide an “innovation mentoring program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to support them through high school and into university”. Specifically, the profound spiritual connection to the land that the aboriginal community holds is invaluable to Oceans Harmony with the health of land and water being so central to their culture. “Land is their mother, it is steeped in their culture, but also gives them the responsibility to care for it”. We hope that Oceans Harmony can provide an effective, appropriate and culturally sensitive planned partnership with the Yugambeh people for conservation of the Logan and Albert rivers.
“Living Lands & Waters” is an American non-profit with a similar mission to Oceans Harmony, that is:
Spending up to nine months a year living and traveling on a ‘clean-up barge’, the Living Lands & Waters crew hosts water conservation initiatives including workshops, tree planting and other key conservation efforts. Since its conception in 1997, the non-profit has removed 10.5 million pounds (5 million kilograms) of debris and rubbish from American rivers and waterways, involving over 110,000 volunteers and planting 1.5 million trees to reach sustainability outcomes and initiatives.
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