General assessment

| Air | Plants and animals | People | Land | Water |

In this second comprehensive State of the Environment Report, we have attempted to further refine the assessment of the condition of the environment and of the human processes that may directly or indirectly impact on that condition. We also consider the responses that humans have made to try to correct any adverse effects on the condition of the environment, for the Australian Capital Region.

To decide if our Region's environment is getting better or worse, we have to consider the various aspects of the environment, which we have addressed under five basic Themes—Atmosphere, Water, Land, Biodiversity and Human Settlement. None of these is independent of the others.

The natural features of the Australian Capital Region are very diverse, stretching from exposed seashores in the south-east, through coastal mountain ranges to highlands in the south and to agricultural plains, mainly in the north and north east. This landscape diversity has resulted in a diverse range of human practices. The plains and hillslopes have been subject to the most extensive modification of natural habitat for human purposes such as agriculture, horticulture, settlement and transport infrastructure. Large areas of natural habitat, mostly in the higher south and west of the Region, have been protected, with some modifications for a variety of tourism needs.

Our 1997 report established the first baseline for future comparisons. The condition and pressures that we have been able to report in 2000 appear to have varied little from those reported in 1997. However, in producing the report we rely on a wide range of data sets, several of which have not been updated since the 1997 report. Therefore, we caution that three-yearly State of the Environment Reports will not always reveal all of the changes that have taken place in the intervening years.

In the past three years we have seen continuing national emphasis on several factors which are as important to the Australian Capital Region as they are to the rest of Australia. We are conscious of the general challenge facing Australia in reduction of Greenhouse gas emissions, in protection of land and water quality, in maintenance of environmental flows of rivers, and in reducing the rate of loss of biodiversity. In all of these factors, we would want to see the Australian Capital Region implementing best environmental practice, if that is not already happening.

The challenges to be faced are those for all sectors of the Australian Capital Region community, and our visitors, not only for Government.

Is our air quality good?

This question really cannot be answered scientifically at this time, as there is little monitoring done in the Region. There are monitors in Canberra, and one was installed during the reporting period at Cooma, but no interpreted data were available for Cooma by the end of the reporting period. Basically the quality of air we breathe is probably no better or worse than reported in the 1997 State of the Environment Report, except for some localised events. Many factors remain within our own choices to minimise the obvious causes of decrease in air quality. Levels of airborne lead in the ACT continue to be low as a result of the change to the use of unleaded fuel, and, we presume, the greater Region also is following this trend. This is despite the fact that all of the Shires reported the use of unleaded vehicles below the national average of 60%. There were a number of reports from Shire Councils stating that air quality had been reduced from time to time, due to smoke from woodfires, greenwaste burnoffs and some hazard reduction burning, but in the absence of data it is not possible to make a definitive statement for the Region.

Winter fogs are common throughout much of the Region, and in such circumstances, it is important that we reduce activities that could convert fog to smog, and thus increase the risk to human health.

The levels of ozone in the upper atmosphere continues to be of some concern, but measurements are not made locally, nor is the impact solely due to local activities. The upper atmosphere composition probably results more from global activities, than from local activities - but every adverse activity contributes to the overall effect. We can all contribute by better individual and community practices. The use of ozone depleting substances is now severely restricted in the ACT and in NSW to very limited medical and scientific needs. Without the protection of upper atmospheric ozone, the damaging ultra-violet (UV) light reaching the earth's surface is of lower wave-lengths, and damaging to both plants and animals. In humans and in other animals, the UV light can cause skin cancer. Humans are now much more aware than previously, of the need to keep skin covered by appropriate clothes or by UV-absorbing creams, whether at home, the beach or in the snow country.

Are our native plants and animals better or worse off?

In the three years since the last report little will have changed. However, a number of actions have been taken to improve knowledge, to improve management (particularly of threatened species), and to reduce threats to biodiversity in the Region.

The ACT has now adopted a new Nature Conservation Strategy and has completed action plans for all 22 threatened species and two endangered ecological communities. The completion rate by NSW NPWS for recovery plans for threatened species is slower. More information about threatened species is needed for Councils to meet their obligations effectively.

The NSW Regional Forests Assessment project resulted in vegetation data for most of the Region at a finer scale than was previously available. Across the Region 185 vegetation communities were identified. More than half of the identified vegetation communities have been assessed as adequately represented in the dedicated reserve systems of the ACT, Bega Valley, Bombala, Eurobodalla, Snowy River and Tallaganda Shires. They are not adequately represented in any proportion in reserves in primary production regions like Boorowa, Gunning, Harden and Young.

On-ground confirmation of these 185 vegetation communities and analysis of both their functionality and representation in the dedicated reserve systems has been recommended.

Land-clearing practices of the past, as well as new developments, particularly from urban development, continue to have an impact on the Region's biodiversity. Woodland and grassland communities are generally the most affected. Several woodland bird species in the Region have been reported as declining.

Approximately 18% of the Region is 'under conservation'. Most of the Region's reserve system lies in the south and west. The protection of threatened species and ecological communities has to date been focused on what can be achieved within the reserve system. However, such protection in off-reserve areas is progressing, and we hope to be able to report more on this aspect of conserving biodiversity in the next report.

How well do we provide for our human populations?

The picture for the Australian Capital Region presents a mixed result. The employment statistics for the Region as a whole show unemployment is lower than the national average, but some Local Government areas are experiencing high unemployment rates, due in part to seasonal fluctuations in the availability of work. The government sector continues to be the largest employer in the Region, particularly in the ACT. The traditional economic base outside the Territory has been mainly primary industries such as agriculture, forestry and fishing. However, their significance in terms of number of people employed in each industry is declining in favour of property and service industries, construction and tourism.

Overall the population numbers have increased only slightly in the reporting period, but the number of older people is higher than the national average in 11 Local Government areas. The physical infrastructure, transport, health and housing will all need to address the changing needs of an ageing population. Several Councils developed social and/or community plans during the reporting period, which included acknowledgment of the needs of particular target groups, but particularly the vulnerable and aged.

Education services across the Region vary in accordance with population numbers. The ACT is well placed in offering a range of facilities from pre-school to tertiary institutions, a situation which is not reflected for the Region as a whole. Four Local Government areas did not have a Government secondary school, reflecting the rural nature of those Shires. Children in these areas must travel into neighbouring Shires or the ACT to obtain a secondary education.

The ACT has a higher number of medical doctors per person than does the Australian Capital Region as a whole, but when it is taken into account that the ACT serves the Region, the ratio drops substantially. This is also reflected in hospitalisations, as more than a quarter of all NSW Southern Area Health Service patients are hospitalised in the ACT, reducing bed ratios.

In other aspects of sense of community, there is a strong local participation rate at festivals and sporting and cultural events across the entire Region. In the rural areas in particular, sporting events play an important social and community role.

Has land quality improved and are we using our land sustainably?

Since 1997, there have been little additional data to allow us to report on changed condition of land and its use or management. One activity which has been reported during the period was acid soil testing, undertaken in some Shires by NSW Agriculture's Acid Soil Program. Bombala, Boorowa, Harden and Yass have returned results indicating strongly acidic or potentially acidic soils are present in those Shires. The information provided is preliminary, and certainly requires further investigation.

We have concerns about the problem of salinisation across the Region, especially in the agricultural areas. However, the continuing lack of information about the groundwater resource is of grave concern for management of both land quality and the water resource.

The quality of land management has historically been of concern, and the extensive land degradation is evidence of some of the problems that can arise. The mistakes were not necessarily ill-intentioned. Indeed, clearing of native vegetation was part of the lease or land-grant condition for many of the early settlers. Current knowledge about vegetation management, stocking rates, cropping and other farming techniques suited to these landscapes is much improved. In time this should result in improved land and water quality, and State of the Environment Reports should be able to report on that improvement, if appropriate data are ever collected at a useful spatial and temporal scale across the entire Region. Government agencies responsible for land management appear, in the past, to have not collected basic information on soil quality at anything like the frequency or scale, to be alert to the impact of different land use practices on land quality.

The tension between land uses in the ACT appears to be increasing. Continuing pressure for residential land competes with increasing pressures on the Government to protect more of the woodlands and grassy ecosystems that have been so degraded by the impact of human activities. Infill or consolidation efforts do not seem to be adequate, or do not divert the demand for 'new' land and more housing. There is also anecdotal evidence that pressure is increasing in Shires and cities close to the ACT, as demand continues for rural residential blocks. The cost of infrastructure, and its maintenance, to service the needs of rural residential allotments, can also be significant. Councils need to manage the growing demand for rural residential lifestyles, which is changing land use patterns and placing new pressures on an already stressed natural environment.

Is our water quality good?

Across the Region, the quality of drinking water varied during the reporting period. For a number of Shires, this was the first time that drinking water quality data were submitted; in those cases, comparisons with the previous reporting period cannot be made. It is good to see that we will now have water quality data for all Local Government Authorities and for the ACT, for future State of the Environment Reports. Overall, the drinking water quality in the Region could be judged as fair to good. There were only two Local Government Authorities that reported that water had to be boiled to address concerns on bacterial contamination. These both occurred in 1997–98 - Yarrowlumla Shire for a period of about two months, with measures taken to address the problem (shown to be effective), and in Goulburn for 18 days due to inadequate disinfection of the water.

Dryland salinity is a problem in a number of Shires where rising watertables are mobilising salts with deleterious effects, both on- and off-site. Shires where surface water quality is compromised by salinisation include Boorowa, Crookwell and Yass. In these Shires, salinity adversely affects land productivity, aquatic ecosystems and the usefulness of water for drinking, stock and irrigation.

Contamination by bacteria is a key factor for a number of Local Government Areas including Cooma-Monaro and Eurobodalla (both of which experience seasonal population shifts in response to tourism), Yass and Goulburn. This bacterial contamination may be a function of effluent discharge from either point sources such as sewage treatment plants, stormwater discharge from urban areas, and intensive agricultural enterprises (such as feedlots), or of diffuse sources such as runoff generated from agricultural land. Although there is a deterioration of conditions at some sites (for example in Yass Shire), more data are required before trends can be determined at a Regional scale. Hopefully by the time of the next report, these trends will be clearer.

For ACT recreational waters, we have noted in this report that high bacteria counts at various swimming sites is of concern. There is a water quality standard for a given temperature in recreational waters. In the ACT's climate, the surface water quality frequently fails to meet that standard because the water temperature is naturally lower than the standard. We believe the common sense interpretation is that the standard, not the water quality, is wrong.

In other areas of the Region, surface water temperatures have increased significantly at sites across Cooma-Monaro and Yass Shires either in response to climatic and stream flow factors or to the discharge of warmer effluent into stream networks, with associated impacts on aquatic ecosystems. These increases exceed guidelines for aquatic health. At this stage, adequate data to establish cause-effect links between streamflow and temperature are not available over both the current and previous reporting periods. In order to understand the dynamics of the contributing factors to surface water temperature change, further data will be required. At the same time it would be useful to specifically identify trends in surface water temperature, along with changing water uses and/or changing impacts on the water networks, for the next reporting period. Cooma-Monaro and Yass Shires appear to be of particular interest.

The increase in concentrations of total nitrogen, total oxidised nitrogen, Kjeldahl nitrogen, ammonia, phosphorus, and suspended solids at a number of sites across the Australian Capital Region indicates that effluent is being discharged and transported through the system at higher nutrient concentrations than was previously the case.

For aquatic ecosystem requirements, environmental flow guidelines have been in place in the ACT for some years. The ACT Government began a program to address sedimentation and declining biodiversity condition in the Murrumbidgee River during the reporting period. Results of the enhanced river flows should be starting to appear by the time of the next State of the Environment report. The New South Wales Government has introduced water reforms to improve the health of rivers and streams. These reforms include setting interim water quality and river flow objectives. The interim river flow objectives deal with the way that water moves through drainage systems and recognises the importance of natural flow regimes to river health.

Is water use increasing or decreasing, and are we providing adequately for the future?

Water use across the Australian Capital Region fluctuated during the reporting period, in response to the amount of rainfall received. During 1997–98, a period of reduced rainfall saw restrictions imposed in a number of Shires. There has been a noticeable move towards decreased water use, partly through increased community awareness and initiatives now in place in various jurisdictions across the Region. These include conserving water through the introduction of reuse schemes, for areas such as sportsgrounds, golf courses and public parks. The move towards grey water reuse shows that attitudes are changing in our use of this precious resource.

Of most concern, though, is the fact that there are no reliable data on the total water resource. Until this gap in our knowledge is filled, it is difficult to assess whether we are using our water resource in a sustainable manner. The introduction of environmental flows that will protect aquatic biodiversity may place restrictions on access to water that has historically been used for agricultural or other purposes.