nrm plan: Pollution

Have your say: Managing pollution

Pollution is a broad term, referring to multiple pressures on our native species, land, soils, water and air.

For the Northern Gulf, this includes the runoff into our waterways, which contains sediments, excess nutrients, contaminants and gross pollutants (such as plastics and litter). These pollutants can come from broadscale catchment disturbances, agricultural practices, or changes to land management (such as fire regimes) removing groundcover and increasing erosion. Once sediments, nutrients or gross pollutants enter the waterways, they can smother aquatic plant and animal species, change the flow of water, and promote algal blooms (eutrophication). Pollution can also result from mining operation legacy issues, where past mining operations haven’t been managed well. This can lead to a build-up of sedimentation in our waterways, changes to hydrology (the way water moves through the land), and contamination.

This issue is ranked as a moderate priority for natural resource management (NRM) across the Northern Gulf region.

NRM Plan: Pollution

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