This model is an evolving document. It is drawn substantially from the NSW, Victorian, and South Australian systems at this stage. It is designed to capture the best elements of approaches used in various Australian States. If you wish to contribute to its development, please email me with your suggestions (jon.nevill@bigpond.com).

The Boards are required to develop, in consultation with the public, Catchment Management Plans (CMPs). These plans incorporate a hierarchy of plans addressing key catchment issues. Water Allocation Plans (WAPs) address the allocation of surface and groundwater. There are also River Management Plans (RMPs), Aquifer Management Plans (AMPs) and Wetland Management Plans (WMPs).

Once assessed and approved by the Minister, the CMP becomes a statutory document, and must be formally considered by local government in approving developments or changing local landuse strategies or landuse zoning plans. The CMP must also be considered by State agencies whose works or activities may impact on the catchment, such as road construction authorities.

This document provides a model for a CMP.

The plan draws these directly from the Water Act, which in turn draws on key national and international strategies and agreements. These are discussed elsewhere.

The plan recognises the need to manage the cumulative effects of incremental water infrastructure development, and seeks to manage these impacts by the strategic implementation of caps or limits on such developments long before problems arise. The policy under which the plans are prepared recognises that, if the caps are considered only after problems become evident, they are unlikely to be efficient or effective.

The Catchment Management Plan must take into consideration:

• the need to further the objectives of the Water Act, within the framework provided by the principles of the Act;
• international, national, State legislation and agreements;
• local government planning strategies and landuse zoning plans;
• interdependencies between aquifers and surface flows;
• beneficial use of surface and groundwaters both now and in the future;
• dependence of ecosystems on surface and groundwater flows, taking special regard to ecosystems of high natural value, and identified representative ecosystems;
• size and variations (seasonal and climatic) of surface and groundwater stocks and flows, the capacity of aquifers to buffer seasonal variations, and the ecological effects of these variations;
• impacts on the environment that may occur as a result of water utilisation (abstractions and discharges), and the risks associated with such impacts
• special significance of aquifer recharge and discharge zones;
• economic and social impacts of management options;
• needs and methods applicable to implementing, enforcing and auditing water plans; and
• scientific uncertainties, and the implications of such uncertainties for management plans.

The Catchment Management Plan must be prepared after the following information is assembled (with the assistance of the State Water Agency scientific support unit) and examined:

• an assessment of the catchment resource base including surface water flows, groundwater storage quantities, groundwater recharge and discharge rates, and seasonal and yearly variations and directions of both surface and groundwater flows;
• mapped data providing information on the aquifers of the catchment, including their geology, and geomorphology;
• mapped data showing all of the catchment's watercourses, wetlands, and highly water-dependent ecosystems such as riparian zones, known subterranean ecosystems, and spring-fed ecosystems - this data should highlight special and representative ecosystems, and provide GIS links to supporting data;
• mapped data providing information on all known dams, weirs, irrigation and industrial water abstractions (including bores), and levee banks - with GIS links to data on this infrastructure such as permits and licences - as much data should be provided as possible on illegal structures;
• mapped data indicating landuse, vegetation cover, and runoff coefficients in the catchment
• an inventory of freshwater ecosystems within the catchment; with special regard to groundwater-dependent ecosystems, and ecosystems of special (and representative) value.
• identification of the degree of dependence of ecosystems on surface and groundwater flows, and the intrinsic, economic, scientific and aesthetic importance of those ecosystems;
• agricultural, industrial and domestic demands for water, including an assessment of their location, seasonal variations, quality requirements, and applicability of water conservation measures;
• identification of places of cultural importance, and the relationship between surface and groundwater resources and these places;
• development of an contaminants inventory; including point and area sources affecting both surface and groundwater resources;
• information from existing systems for monitoring and reporting the condition of both the water resource (surface and ground) and the condition of water-dependent ecosystems - summary data in the form of aquifer condition indices and stream condition indices must be examined;

It is absolutely essential that this review provide information on the size of the catchment's water stocks and flows, on the needs of the catchment's water-dependent ecosystems, on the needs of existing domestic, agricultural and industrial users, and on the degree to which the catchment's water resources are already allocated in a median rainfall year, and in 10^th and 90^th percentile rainfall years.

Strategic planning must be undertaken to set limits on human use of catchment water, and where necessary wind back existing human use.

• setting local objectives, including environmental objectives, for surface and groundwater use and protection;
• establishing management and allocation criteria in line with ecologically sustainable use principles;
• determining appropriate values and uses for the resource;
• developing transfer strategies, where appropriate;
• devising protection priorities and mechanisms for dependent ecosystems;
• providing protection strategies for places of cultural significance related to water;
• devising infrastructure protection policies;
• where appropriate, providing rehabilitation and remediation programs;
• taking account of regional planing strategies and local government planning schemes, and by providing recommendations to local government regarding inclusion of specific water protection strategies and mechanisms in planning instruments (such as buffer zones, for example), and
• developing and budgeting for local monitoring, reporting and review mechanisms.

• the Catchment Management Plan must establish a framework of detailed plans, including River Management Plans, Aquifer Management Plans, and Water Allocation Plans;
• The CMP must examine interactions between regional and local planning strategies and catchment health, and must make recommendations in particular regarding needs to maintain or change local government planning (landuse zoning) schemes;
• The CMP must establish procedures for monitoring, reporting and reviewing measures of catchment health, including surface and groundwaters.

Procedures are to be established to allow monitoring and reporting of river health.  These procedures are to include measurement of the Index of Stream Condition in accordance with agreed national protocols.  The ISC includes measurements of five key indicator groups:
(a) hydrology (flow volume and seasonality);
(b) physical form (stream bank and bed condition, presence of and access to physical habitat)
(c) streamside zone (quantity and quality of streamside vegetation, condition of billabongs);
(d) water quality (nutrient concentration, turbidity, salinity and acidity); and
(e) aquatic life (diversity of macroinvertebrates).

Procedures are to be established to allow monitoring and reporting of aquifer health.  These procedures are to include measurement of the Index of Aquifer Condition in accordance with agreed national protocols.  The IAC is to include measurements of five key indicators:
(a) storage capacity - the size of the stored water resource,
(b) physical aquifer structure and function, including measures of the condition of recharge and discharge zones (taking special note of damage due to extractive industries);
(c) recharge and discharge rates, taking special note of divergence between recharge and (abstraction plus natural discharge) rates;
(d) water quality; and
(e)  biological health, taking special note of the condition of groundwater-dependent ecosystems (especially stygofauna and other biota totally dependent on aquifer health, such as mound spring communities).

Additional notes on the use of indicators (both for indexes and special studies):

Hydrology indicators: change in volume and seasonality of flow from natural conditions.

Biological indicators: riparian and in-stream macrophytes - diversity and abundance; in-stream algae; diversity and abundance indicators for invertebrates, macro-invertebrates, fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles, mammals; aquatic and riparian weeds; aquatic and riparian pest species; wetland area - spatial extent, age structure of vegetation indicating regeneration.

Physical and chemical indicators: total phosphorus, electrical conductivity (salinity); turbidity; and pH; contamination by suspected carcinogens or endocrine disruptors.

Habitat indicators: connectivity (weirs, dams and levees blocking the movement of fish and water); riparian cover; riparian weeds; woody debris in streams; stream geomorphology - bank stability, bed erosion or aggradation; frequency and timing of flooding, particularly of billabongs and wetlands.

Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand / ANZECC (1998) Implementation guidelines: water quality and catchment management planning. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

ANZECC (1996) National Water Quality Management Strategy: National Principles for the Provision of Water for Ecosystems; Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia, and Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council, Canberra.

White LJ & Ladson AR (1999) An Index of Stream Condition: Field Manual. Department of Natural Resources and Environment Victoria; Melbourne.

White LJ & Ladson AR (1999) An Index of Stream Condition: Catchment Managers' Manual. Department of Natural Resources and Environment Victoria; Melbourne.

White LJ & Ladson AR (1999) An Index of Stream Condition: Users' Manual. Department of Natural Resources and Environment Victoria; Melbourne.

White LJ & Ladson AR (1999) An Index of Stream Condition: Reference Manual. Department of Natural Resources and Environment Victoria; Melbourne.