The Tamar Estuary and Esk Rivers (TEER) catchments cover nearly 15% of Tasmania's landmass. The North and South Esk Rivers drain into the Tamar Estuary which extends approximately 70 km from Launceston to Bass Strait. The region sustains a diverse range of land uses, including grazing, dairy, cropping, plantation and native forestry, mining, heavy industry, urban, rural residential and nature conservation areas. It provides substantial input to Tasmania's economy as well as sustaining key ecological assets and communities. There are 26 wastewater treatment plants discharging into the rivers and estuary, many of which are near the end of their lifecyle and in need of upgrade. The Tamar Estuary is a mesotidal drowned river valley, the only estuary of this type in Tasmania. It is tidal for its whole length to the First Basin on the South Esk and on the North Esk to St Leonards, with a 3.5 metre tide occurring twice a day in Launceston. The upper estuary has a long history of dredging and community concern over sediment build-up. Other water quality issues relate to elevated nutrient and pathogen levels in areas of the estuary and its tributaries as well as heavy metal contamination in some areas of the estuary and parts of the freshwater system. To provide a coordinated management approach and guide for investment in activities to protect, maintain and restore the health of the catchment, NRM North established the Tamar Estuary and Esk Rivers Program (TEER) in 2008. A key goal of the TEER Program is to improve scientific understanding of the issues impacting upon the health of waterways so that priority areas requiring investment in on-ground works can be better identified and targeted. The TEER Program is a regional partnership between the agencies with a statutory responsibility for waterway management and includes local and state governments, Hydro Tasmania and TasWater. The TEER Program also fosters collaborative partnerships and works closely with a range of industry, business, research, government and community groups to coordinate activities to reduce pollutants entering waterways and to monitor and report on waterway health. The TEER Program has developed a Water Quality Improvement Plan to provide a long-term blueprint for maintaining and improving water quality in the estuary and its tributaries. The TEER program is strongly collaborative and the Plan has been developed using the strong linkages already developed as well as through additional collaborative and consultative efforts with the broader community. A computer-based decision support system, the CAPER DSS, has been constructed to support development of the Plan. This DSS builds on detailed modelling already undertaken in the catchment and estuary as well as a substantial body of knowledge that has been developed through other studies in the catchment and elsewhere. The DSS allows alternative scenarios to be considered and costed for the Plan, to inform selection of appropriate management strategies. The aim is to develop a Plan with strong communit...
