Botany Bay Coastal Catchments Initiative Website
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Welcome to the Botany Bay Coastal Catchments Initiative

Welcome to the Botany Bay Coastal Catchments Initiative (BBCCI) website. Below is a brief overview of the BBCCI. As it progresses there will be more information and reports put on the site, so come back regularly to find out what's been done!
Click here to download a two summary of the BBCCI

Press Releases

To view all BBCCI press/media releases please click here

Who is funding and managing it?

The Botany Bay Coastal Catchments Initiative (BBCCI) is majority funded by the Australian Government and being project managed and part funded by the Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority.

What are the objectives or goals of the BBCCI?

This Initiative seeks to achieve long-term protection of the surface waters of Botany Bay, its estuaries and its catchment.

  • To produce a scientifically derived ecological response model of Botany Bay and its estuaries that can be used to model the impacts changes in the catchment will have on the Bay's ecological communities.
  • It will primarily be focused on the pollutants washing off the hard surfaces in the catchment (suspended solids, nitrogen and phosphorus).
  • It will also engage with councils and key stakeholders in the Botany Bay Catchment so they can participate in finding and implementing innovative solutions to improve water quality in the Bay and catchment.

The BBCCI's ultimate goal is to develop an agreed water quality improvement plan for the surface waters of Botany Bay and its catchment however, we will need to secure further funding to complete this goal.

What does the BBCCI Involve?

The major activities being undertaken in the CCI are listed below in the approximate order they will occur:

  • Prepare a Scoping Study.
  • Map the Botany Bay Catchment and sub-catchments.
  • Prepare a Consultation Strategy.
  • Set draft levels of protection for the environmental values of Botany Bay and its catchments waterways.
  • Model the current contributions of nutrients and sediments pollution in the catchment,
  • Conduct an ecological characterisation of the Towra Point Ramsar site.
  • Develop a hydrodynamic model for Botany Bay and catchment watercourses.
  • Establish an ecological response model of Botany Bay and its estuaries, which will be used to determine how much of several key pollutants that Botany Bay and its major tributaries can receive each year before irreversible ecological damage occurs.
  • Identify opportunities and barriers to the adoption of water sensitive urban design in the catchment.
  • Develop draft water quality objectives and load targets needed to protect the draft environmental objectives.
  • Develop management options to meet the water quality objectives and load targets and assess the cost and effectiveness various options and select most appropriate options to achieve targets.
  • Develop a water sensitive urban design (WSUD) adoption strategy and support councils and other government agencies including WSUD in their planning processes.
  • Review the statutory and institutional arrangements relating to protecting water quality in Botany Bay, its estuaries and catchments.

Most of these activities are completed and the results, findings and/or reports are available on publications page of this website.

When did it start and when will it be finished?

The first phase of the BBCCI commenced at the beginning of 2007 and was completed in late 2008.

Where else has a Coastal Catchments Initiative been done?

There are many other CCI projects being undertaken around Australia. They include:

Moreton Bay (Qld),
Great Barrier Reef (Qld)
Port Phillip and Western Port Bays (Vic),
Derwent Estuary (Tas),
Adelaide's Coastal Waters (SA),
Swan and Canning Estuaries (WA),
Darwin Harbour (NT), and
Myall and Wallis Lakes (NSW).

Contact Details

John Dahlenburg
Botany Bay CCI
P: (02) 9895 6244

Contact Us: John Dahlenburg   02 9895 6244   bbcci@cma.nsw.gov.au
Botany Bay Coastal Catchments Initiative Website
with the support of:
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