A Water Sensitive Urban Design Strategy for Darwin Harbour - a Coastal Catchments Initiative Project
Darwin Harbour - Worth Protecting
The aquatic environment of Darwin Harbour has significant community and environmental values. It is a recreational resource, provides significant amenity to the community in the region and underpins economic activity. Importantly the harbour represents the key aquatic ecosystem of the region, providing habitat for a range of estuarine and freshwater flora and fauna. For example 27,350 ha of mangrove forest is found in Darwin Harbour, which constitutes approximately 5% of the total mangrove area of the Northern Territory.
Urban Impacts on Darwin Harbour
The Harbour is the ultimate receiving environment for all stormwater and wastewater discharge from Darwin and Palmerston urban areas, which support a population of approximately 110,000 people. Recent research has identified that although the Harbour is considered to be in near pristine condition with good water quality, the impacts of urban stormwater runoff and wastewater discharges are evident. Wastewater discharges are resulting in localised degradation within the estuarine tributaries of the Harbour and during the wet season, stormwater runoff from urban areas is resulting in high loads of sediments, nutrients and heavy metals entering local waterways.
Current predictions for 2050 are that the Darwin Harbour region will experience strong population growth with an expected need for an additional 50,000 to 100,000 new dwellings over this period. Given these large development pressures facing the Darwin Region, and the potential impact this will have on the receiving environment within Darwin Harbour, the Northern Territory Government has identified that a strategy is required for managing the impacts of urban development on the Harbour.
WSUD Strategy for Darwin Harbour
In order to manage the impacts to Darwin Harbour, particularly from new development
and re-development areas, the Northern Territory
Government has identified that the WSUD
approach should be applied in all new development
zones in the Darwin Harbour catchment. To
assist in the adoption of WSUD, the Department
of Planning and Infrastructure (DPI) in
conjunction with the Department of Natural
Resources, Environment and the Arts (NRETA),
with funding from the Australian Coastal
Catchments Initiative (CCI) program, are
developing a WSUD Strategy for Darwin Harbour.
The Strategy is to create an enabling environment
to ensure commitment to water cycle and
stormwater management through the development
of a WSUD framework linking policy to locally
relevant technical design guidelines, manuals
and industry tools. Development of the Strategy
represents a substantial project and a detailed
workplan
has been developed.
Relation to Other Government Initiatives
The Darwin Harbour Regional Plan of Management and the Draft Stormwater Management Strategy for the Darwin Harbour Catchment establish the initial elements of a framework for managing the water quality impacts on the Harbour. Additionally, a Water Quality Protection Plan (WQPP) is being developed for Darwin Harbour Catchment. The WQPP is a jointly funded project with the Australian Government, through the Coastal Catchments Initiative (CCI), aimed at identifying and addressing key water quality risks to the values of the Darwin Harbour and its catchment. The WQPP is being developed over a three year period and the Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts (NRETA) has primary responsibility for the development of the Plan.
Coastal Catchment Initiative Projects
The Coastal Catchments Initiative (CCI) is a programme run by the Australian Government
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage
and the Arts. More information is available
on the CCI
website. There are many other Coastal
Catchment Initiative Projects being undertaken
around Australia including:
Great Barrier Reef (Qld)
Moreton Bay (Qld)
Swan and Canning Estuaries (WA)
Adelaide's Coastal Water (SA)
Port Phillip and Western Port Bays (Vic)
Derwent Estuary (Tas)
Botany Bay (NSW)
Myall and Wallis Lakes (NSW)
Timeframe
Development of the WSUD Strategy for Darwin Harbour began in early 2007 and is
scheduled for completion in 2009. Full details
of the timeframes for the delivery of the
nine stages of the WSUD Strategy can be
found in the workplan.
More Information on the WSUD Strategy
All the latest information, findings and copies of any reports and papers on the WSUD Strategy for Darwin Harbour can be found on this website or by contacting the project manager (Contact Us).
