The Hawkesbury-Nepean CMP covers the entire tidal and estuarine reach of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River and associated estuaries including Brisbane Water, Broken Bay and Pittwater. This covers the Local Government Areas of the Central Coast, Northern Beaches, Ku-ring-gai, Hornsby, The Hills and Hawkesbury.

Under the CM Act, councils are required to take a systems approach to coastal management looking at coastal zone management issues in the broader, catchment scale context. The tidal and estuarine reaches of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River system extend from the confluence of the Grose River at Yarramundi 145km downstream to Broken Bay intersecting 6 Local Government Areas. In order to consistently and effectively address system-wide issues, it is important that the 6 local councils with management jurisdiction of the river system work together and that one program is prepared to guide this process.

Central Coast is partnering with Northern Beaches, Ku-ring-gai, Hornsby, The Hills and Hawkesbury Councils to develop a whole-of-system CMP for the tidal reaches of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River System. The CMP will contain actions that address both system wide processes as well as LGA specific actions that address local scale issues which will need to be dealt with by the individual council for example Brisbane Water specific actions would need to be addressed by Central Coast Council.

The CMP will be presented as a compendium of implementation plans covering system-wide actions and LGA specific actions to ensure that there is sufficient granularity to address issues at different scales.

A website which collates the information from all six partnering councils has been developed and is available here.

The broad objectives of the HNR CMP are stated below however it is anticipated that they may be refined during the development of the CMP to reflect stakeholder and community feedback.

• to protect and enhance the integrity and resilience of the environmental values of the Hawkesbury River, Brisbane Water and Pittwater estuaries, including healthy, diverse aquatic ecosystems.
• to maintain and protect water quality across the system and its impacts on environmental, social and economic values - including ecological condition, recreational amenity and agricultural uses;
• to maintain and preserve the unique scenic amenity and natural character of the Hawkesbury River, Brisbane Water and Pittwater estuaries;
• to support the social and cultural values of the system and maintain public access and recreational amenity;
• to maintain the health, safety and wellbeing of those using the coastal zone (both directly and indirectly) - and to protect the health of human consumers of aquatic foods;
• to acknowledge Aboriginal peoples’ spiritual, social, customary and economic use of the Hawkesbury and to protect local indigenous cultural heritage;
• to recognise the coastal zone as a vital economic zone and to support sustainable coastal economies such as recreational fishing, aquaculture and tourism;
• to facilitate appropriate management of the coastal zone through ecologically sustainable development, and the promotion of sustainable land use planning and decision-making that is consistent with regional and local strategic plans;
• to mitigate current and future risks from population growth, urbanisation and coastal hazards (erosion and inundation of foreshores caused by tidal waters and the action of waves, including the interaction of those waters with catchment flooding);
• to ensure co-ordination between relevant government and public authorities relating to the river system - and to facilitate the proper integration of management activities across all levels of government;
• to maintain meaningful engagement with the community, and to support public participation in coastal management and planning, and to create greater public awareness, education and understanding of coastal processes and management actions;
• to encourage and facilitate research and monitoring – and to maintain the scientific and educational values of the river system;
• to support the objects of the Marine Estate Management Act 2014; and
• to align with the NSW Risk-based Framework for Considering Waterway Health Outcomes in Strategic Land-use Planning Decisions.

Yes. The Lower Hawkesbury River Estuary Management Plan was developed in 2008 by Hornsby Council in collaboration with Gosford Council. In addition to this there are 3 existing Coastal Zone Management Plans relevant to the study area including:

The Coastal Zone Management Plan for Brisbane Water (adopted by Gosford City Council in 2012);
The Coastal Zone Management Plan for Gosford’s Beaches (certified by the Minister for the Environment in 2017); and,
The Coastal Zone Management Plan for Pearl Beach Lagoon (certified by the Minister for the Environment in 2017).

There are 6 councils with management jurisdiction over the tidal reaches of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River System:

• Central Coast Council
• Northern Beaches Council
• Ku-ring-gai Council
• Hornsby Shire Council
• The Hills Shire Council
• Hawkesbury City Council.

The HNR CMP will be delivered by the project steering committee which consists of representatives from the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and the Environment and from each of the 6 partner councils.

A website which collates the information from all 6 partnering councils has been developed and is available here.

Council has a water quality monitoring program in place for all its waterways, including Brisbane Water and the Lower Hawkesbury River. Sampling of these areas began in 2017-18 (Brisbane Water) and 2018-19 (Hawkesbury River). These programs help to understand past and current condition, identify where we need to focus our management actions and determine long-term trends in water quality and ecological health.

Sampling is undertaken by scientists throughout the year at a number of representative sites. Data is collected on site condition, water chemistry, nutrient concentrations and a range of biological indicators which tell us about the health and resilience of each area. The program aligns with the NSW Estuary Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Protocols and allows us to compare our results to other estuaries in NSW.  

The 2019-20 Waterways Report Card for the Central Coast Local Government Area has been released and includes Southern Lake Macquarie, Tuggerah Lakes, Brisbane Water, the Lower Hawkesbury River and the coastal lagoons – providing a clear picture of our entire waterways network. The 2019-20 report tells us:

• Of the 36 sites sampled, 25% are excellent, 39% are good, 33% are fair and 3% are very poor
• Brisbane Water estuary is generally considered good or excellent, with fair ratings at Narara Creek, Erina Creek and Kincumber Broadwater
• Water quality throughout the Tuggerah Lakes estuary was generally good, with fair results for Budgewoi Lake, Wallarah Creek, Canton Beach, Ourimbah Creek and Killarney Vale and an excellent rating for Chittaway Bay
• The water quality at our southern Lake Macquarie sites is excellent
• Our coastal lagoons vary from excellent at Cockrone Lagoon to very poor at Avoca Lagoon.

Council uses this information to track change, help guide our management decisions and identify areas where more detailed catchment audits are required.