Improving water quality in the catchments around the Great Barrier Reef is crucial to protecting the unique and extraordinary values of the reef. Drawing on her experience in Corner Inlet, Michelle worked as part of the Natural Decisions and the Burnett-Mary Regional Group (BMRG) team to create the Burnett-Mary Water Quality Improvement Plan (WQIP).
The WQIP guides investment to address water quality issues on urban and rural land in the catchments of the Burnett Mary region. It considers the feasibility and cost-benefits of achieving water quality objectives and identifies the research and monitoring required to improve knowledge.
This WQIP has consolidated and updated three previous catchment based WQIPs (Burnett-Baffle, Burrum and Mary), acknowledging the ecological links between the two major marine protected areas in the Burnett Mary region.
The Plan combines the latest scientific information and bio-economic modelling and has set a series of targets and specific costing for reaching these targets to help with prioritising actions to improve water quality in the region.
Read more about this project or you can download a copy of the WQIP for more information.