The Importance of Water

Water quality is a pervasive natural resource condition issue throughout the entire region, the severity of which is high and includes existing impacts and potential risks to a host of regional assets including biodiversity and coastal and marine (Tait 2004). Impacts including turbidity, surface water salinity, eutrophication, organic loading etc. if ignored have the ability to severely degrade the environment of the Burdekin Dry Tropics.

Water as a Natural Resource

Burdekin River’s outstanding characteristic is its variability. River flow varies between wet and dry seasons and from one year to the next. While the pattern of water movement in the Burdekin River catchment is reasonably well understood, information about the region’s water quality is limited. The region’s surface water provides essential water supply for our urban and rural populations as well as important habitat for an extraordinary range of flora and fauna. Ultimately, the region’s water resources maintain and potentially impact on the health of the Great Barrier Reef.

Water in the BDTNRM Plan                            

The Burdekin Dry Tropics Natural Resource Management Plan 2005-2010  provides a brief overview of water resources in the BDT region as well as providing

• Descriptions, Values and Services
• Threatening Processes
• Information Gaps
• Targets and Actions

 Projects

There are several surface water and wetland projects currently operational in the region.

To find out more please visit our projects page.