Publication (Technical report): Nutrient loads from the Macalister Irrigation District; Outcomes of the specialist workshop held at Monash University on the 14th April 2000

Publication Type:	Technical report / Consultancy
Publication Name:	Nutrient loads from the Macalister Irrigation District; Outcomes of the specialist workshop held at Monash University on the 14th April 2000

Reference Information

Hart, B.T. and Cottingham, P (2000) Nutrient loads from the Macalister Irrigation District; Outcomes of the specialist workshop held at Monash University on the 14th April 2000. CRCFE Technical Report 5/2000, CRCFE, Canberra.

Optional Information

Attached document(s):

- Nutrient Loads.pdf

ISBN:
1876810181

Other information:

Report in PDF format (200KB) is attached below

Nutrient Loads from the Macalister Irrigation District

Outcomes of the Specialist Workshop held at Monash University on the 14 April 2000.

INTRODUCTION

Background

The Gippsland Lakes experience algal blooms almost every year, with major implications for tourism and more recently for the fishing industry. The State Environment Protection Policy (SEPP) - Waters of Victoria: Schedule F5, Latrobe
and Thomson River Basins (Vic Government Gazette, 1996), addresses the nutrient loads entering Lake Wellington and some of the key nutrient sources. Environmental quality objectives in the policy are established for a median stream flow year. In particular, the SEPP requires at least a 40% reduction in the annual phosphorus loads from irrigation drains in the Macalister Irrigation District (MID) by 2005, with the baseline load determined on the basis of total annual phosphorus loads discharged during the years 1994, 1995 and 1996.

There has been considerable controversy about the baseline total phosphorus (TP) load from the MID, with claims and counter claims about the best estimate (many different methods have been used, and all have problems because of a lack of adequate data).

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) requested that the CRC for Freshwater Ecology (CRCFE) facilitate a specialist workshop, attended by many key stakeholders, to resolve the issues regarding the estimation of loads from the MID. The purpose of the workshop was to seek agreement on a “best” methodology and a “best” available data set, and if needed to
define what additional data needs to be collected. The Workshop program and a list of participants are provided in Appendix A and B respectively. A Discussion Paper was produced by EPA to provide essential background for the Workshop (see Appendix C).

A map of the region and the MID drainage system is given in Figure 1.

Workshop objectives

A workshop was held on the 14 th April 2000. The objectives of the workshop were:

To review available data and methodologies being used to estimate the annual loads of phosphorus discharged from irrigation drains in the MID.
To agree on an appropriate method for calculating these loads and on the “best” available data set needed for this purpose.
To agree on a baseline annual phosphorus load discharged during the years 1994, 1995 and 1996 (or if this is not possible agree on a method and data set required to estimate such a baseline load).

Workshop output

The purpose of the workshop was to agree on a “best” methodology and a “best” available data set to estimate the baseline TP loads from the MID. The outputs from the Workshop have been arranged below in three sections:

Best available data set;
Agreed method to estimate the baseline TP load from the MID; and
Future activities.

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