Search

The responsibility for water management in Australia resides with State and Territory governments and a range of documentation has evolved for governing effluent discharge licensing, on the one hand, and reuse guidelines on the other. This system has the potential to impede the introduction of national initiatives and new technologies relevant to water recycling schemes. In this article, we examine this documentation with a view to suggesting how future guideline and licensing processes may be structured to facilitate an increase in water reuse. Differences noted between national, State and Territory guidelines included reclaimed water sources, reuse options, nominated quality criteria, monitoring frequencies, sampling and testing methods and accreditation. Differences between licences and guidelines occurred for monitoring sites, nominated water quality criteria and compliance levels. The standardisation of these criteria where applicable, through collaboration between licensing and guideline authorities, would lead to lower monitoring costs for reuse schemes. The integration of national guidelines for reclaimed water, with those for fresh and marine water, would provide public health and environment protection guidance for water reuse. This could be achieved by including reclaimed water in the fresh and marine water guidelines, and by improved cross-referencing between both documents. Single points of contact for recycling scheme approvals, established through inter-departmental groups in each State or Territory, are also suggested.

This destination-wide, longitudinal case analysis provides an examination of the growth of strata titled tourism accommodation (STTA) on Australia’s Gold Coast. The observations signify that the first decade of the 21st century has seen a continuing amplification of the dominance of STTA developments on the Gold Coast. Data supportive of the view that an attempt to consolidate an old STTA complex into a larger rejuvenated tourism complex can become an insurmountable challenge is also provided. Noting the extent to which this challenge can jeopardize the long-term sustainability of a tourism destination core that has a high STTA density, has resulted in the development of a provocative analogy that likens STTA intensification to the growth stages of cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports on relationships between estuarine habitats and coastal fisheries in Queensland, Australia. This study aims to show the value of the habitat characteristics of estuaries to commercial fish catch in this location, with particular emphasis on the role of saltmarsh, seagrass habitats, and mangroves. The study concluded that the relationships of estuarine habitats is essential to the size of fish stocks and in maximizing the yield for commercial and recreational fishers.

A field study was conducted to investigate sewage inputs at popular anchorages in Moreton Bay, a sub-tropical, semi-enclosed embayment system in Southeast Queensland, Australia. Sterol biomarkers were quantified in sediments revealing low levels over a spatial and temporal scale consistent with a shallow, oligotrophic, highly dynamic, sand dominated system. Despite low concentrations (ng/g) and high variability, relevant sterol/stanol pairs remained well-correlated and were successful in identifying an unexpected once-off pollution event from a point source at Moreton Bay Island. During this incident, the main human sewage biomarker, coprostanol, was found at a concentration of 1.4 μg/g, with a coprostanol/5α-cholestanol ratio of 3.2. Other than this one incident, sterol levels were consistently low even when anchorages were at full capacity. Thus, sewage from recreational vessels was found to have very little effect on sediment quality at anchorages in Moreton Bay and Gold Coast Broadwater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]