1. Introduction
A monitoring program is an essential toolto consider
whenimplementing an adaptive environmental management (AEM).It provides
data that can assess and evaluate the outcomes of managementdecisions
and subsequentlymake the AEM more effective over time, beyond other
benefits.
This project aims to design an adaptive monitoring program to assess
the sewage outfall processes and its impacts on the environmentand
stakeholders with the objective of provide effective information to
management board in order to direct decisions to sustainability.
It is projected to take into consideration new conditions and questions
that may arise in the future without compromising the trustworthiness of the
data record. ”(Lindenmayer 2011)
Heading & Situation
The hypothetical situation studied in this project is in regards to a
sewage outfall operation located in Noosa, Southeastern Queensland.
The operation of the plant reckon with the prior treatment of sewage
before disposal in the ocean. Furthermore, the plant considers discharge
periodicity in order to ensure that the sewage is being released only when the
tide is coming out.
However, according to the hypothetical briefing, the sewage outfall
project also forecast a population growth of approximately 3% per year over
the next 13 years. This consideration affects directly the storing capacity of
the treated water before it can be discharged.
Background
Noosa is situatedamong severalareas with ecological importancesuch
as national parks, wetlands and lakes. In these areas there aremangroves
and seagrass along the Noosa river besides some important endangered
species, both animal and plants(Noosa Community Environment Trust 2012).
It is also close to Great Sandy straight, considered a wetland
internationally important, protected under The Environment Protection and
Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC 1999)
Among the 89 Australian bioregions, the southeastern Queensland
bioregion has greater than 50% of threatened ecosystems (NLWRA 2002b).
Therefore Noosa is a place with unique ecosystems’ characteristics
and its preservation must be considered seriously.
Noosa’s community is engaged with the preservation of the
environment and its sustainability through Noosa’s council and private
organizations that provide different programs to teach the community how to
preserve the environment (ARIES 2007; Noosa Biosphere 2009). They aim

2. toachieve a sustainable interaction with the environment.
Noosa region, which includes Noosa Heads, Noosaville, Tewantin,
Peregian and Sunshine beach, has approximately 38,000 habitants and it will
grow an average of 3% annually in the next years (Office of Economic and
Statistical Research 2011; SunROC 2004).
However, during the holiday peak season, Noosa population increases
to approximately 15000 visitors per year (Noosa Biosphere 2009).
The preservation of the environment is a key concern for the local
government and community not only because of the ecological value of the
region but also in regards to its economic stability and cultural values.
The core industries in Noosa are Property and Business, Retail,
Construction, Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants (Noosa Business
Survey 2004).These industries represent more than 50% of Noosa economy
and they are narrowlylinked to tourism and related industries.
In regards to the legislation, there are numerousregulations from
Commonwealth, Queensland state and Sunshine City council, that the
monitoring program must be in compliance with.
The local environment is managed and preserved under the Coastal
Protection and Management Act 1995, which describes policies for managing
and protecting coastal resources (EDO, 2010).
Also, the Queensland’s Environment Protection Act,which is mainly
concerned with pollution, aims to achieve ecological sustainable development
in Queensland (Environment Protection Act, 2004).
It empowers the Department of Environment & Heritage to formulate
Environmental Protection Policies (EPPs) and additionally determines tools,
as the South East Queensland Natural Resource Management Plan which
sets numerous environmental targets which must be achieved by 2031
(DERM 2009).
As Noosa region is both important for leisure and tourism, not only the
quality of the water, but also its appearance is a significant characteristic to
consider.
Approach and Methodology
The first steps are defining questions and identify targets that will
underpin the monitoring program. The main questions are related to what
impacts the sewage outfall will cause in the environment and to the
stakeholders, what is the extension and probability of these impacts and what
are the targets and what needs to be monitored.
The objectives of the monitoring program are to be in conformity with
the Australian legislation, respect stakeholder interests and be sustainable.
For this reason, the monitoring program output must provide the necessary
information to decision makers as well as stakeholders.

3. Therefore it is indispensable to define the baseline conditions, which
are the current characteristics of the region based on background information
given. A clear baseline condition is important because it defines the initial
state of the environment and community to be used as a parameter during the
examination of the data collected during the monitoring program.
When establishing the baseline it is fundamental to analyze long-term
trends in water quality conditions in order to comprehend natural cycles and
the influence of factors not related to the sewage but can influence the water
quality results.(Macdonald, 2009)
Nowadays, the Noosa river is classified as B, good in quality and
Noosa catchment is classified as A-, as shown in Health Waterways report
card . Moreover, it is possible to obtain water quality indicators from the last
ten years (Hunter 2009).
Subsequently, a review of environment factors (REF) has been
established in order to list and weigh the impacts that the sewage outfall may
cause, it analyses the likely environmental consequences of the impacts. This
tool was chosen since its application is straightforward and fast, even though
the REF does not analyze impacts in depth (Appendix I).
The main issues related to the operation of the sewage outfall were
essentially surveyed in the literature and they are described in the following
paragraphs. (NSW Department of Commerce 2003; Armstrong 1996; Ed
Parnell 2003; McLean 1991; Otway 1996; Fagan 1992)
The rawsewage receives primary treatment at the plant and
subsequentlyis released in the marine ecosystems.Since the area of the
discharge is close to the river mouth, the timing of the discharge can
represent a risk of pollution spread since the sewage plume can be
transported up river depending on the tide and currentand other physical
elements as wind.
In order to evaluate the direct impactsof sewage’s release on the
environment, it is necessary to understand the quality and composition of the
effluent after the treatment process.
The sewage effluentcontains nutrients as nitrogen and phosphorous,
pathogens and occasionally toxic substances can also be encountered in
samples.
Theenlargement of inorganic chemicals nutrients such as phosphorous
and nitrogen in the water can stimulate growth of algae and consequently
cause eutrophication. This event results in aloss of oxygen due to plant
decomposition and also modifies the water turbidity.

4. The consequences are possible damage in sensitive environments as
seagrass (which can be found in Noosa river) by impeding the penetration of
light(Prepas 2003), extermination of species that depend on oxygen and
aesthetic deterioration as consequence of suspended particles and odor.
Likewise, the organic matter released in the ocean consumes part of
the oxygen available in the ecosystems, which represents a risk to some
sensitive species, which depend on oxygen to survive.
The contamination of beach bathing waters with fecal matter, which is
the source of organisms responsible for waterborne diseases,impacts public
health.
Furthermore, sewage can contain heavy metals and persistent organic
pollutants that bioaccumulate throughout the trophic chainand can cause
chronic effects to human health with long period contact at lower
concentrations of these components.
In regard the socioeconomic risks, the decline of water quality can
leads to weakening in tourism and other related industries, since the main
attractions in Noosa are the beaches. Also, fisheries industry can be affected
by the water quality andin thelong-term the consequences can lead to an
economic downturn.
The Noosa community considers the beach extremely significant for
their social life as they useit as a place for leisure and/or sports activities. It is
part of their local culture. Therefore the sewage outfall can also have a social
impact.
If the Noosa river is affected by pollution it can affect the land use
which is represented by horticulture irrigation, residential and rural use.
The selection of the indicators was done based on the REF analysis in
view of the probability of the risk to occur. According to the REF table, the
indicators must monitor the water quality, instabilities in the sensitive
environments, the dispersion of the sewage and stakeholders perceptions.
(appendix)
The indicators can be divided in three main groups: Chemicophysical,
Biological and Socioeconomic, and some of them must be chosen due to
government guidelines(National Water Quality Management Strategy;
Queensland Water Quality Guidelines 2009). They are the following:
Dissolved oxygen
Electrical conductivity: to evaluate the degree of salinity
Nitrogenand it compounds which include nitrate, nitrite and
ammonia.
Phosphorus
pH

5. Turbidity
Water temperature
Chlorophyll a
Biochemical oxygen demand
The chemical and physical indicatorslisted above can analyze the load
of nutrients that is being released and measure the impacts related to it.
However, they only describe the water situation during a short period of time.
It is an instantaneous measure that represents a lack of at least one indicator
to measure the cumulative impacts caused during a certain period of time
after the commissioning of the sewage outfall.
For this type of analysis, a biological indicator,such asbenthic
invertebrate and macro invertebrates, is usually preferred because despite of
the moderate toleration to stress in the environment, they are sensitive to
disturbances and they have limit mobility (Bioindicators: Using Organisms to
Measure Environmental Impactsn.d.) that helps identifying the location where
they were in contact with pollutants.
Bioindicatorscan provide information about the existence of toxic
elements as heavy metals and provide bioaccumulation taxa and additionally
it is possible to correlate the amount of organic matter with the increase of the
benthic invertebrate population(Cardoso 2007).
Even though the costs of biological monitoring are higher compared to
chemico-physical monitoring, examining the biota is the only method wherein
is possible to obtain reliable information about the ecosystems health over
time. Taking into account the value of the ecosystem in Noosa and the
necessity to preserve it, this analysis must be used.
Another fundamental biological indicator is the bacteria Escherichia
Coli that is inexpensive to analyze and can determine the presence of
pathogens organisms in the water. E. Coli analysis is necessary due to the
risk of contamination in bathing beaches which can affect the population’s
health (NHMRC 2003).
The correlation of indicators can make the monitoring program more
effective as there are other aspects in the environment that can influence the
indicators results such as stormwater that usually increase turbidity, bacteria
levels and nutrients parameters.
Likewise, if a correlation between indicators is considered, a low-priced
indicator can be measured more times and in case of anoutlier result, another
more specific indicator can be used. For instance, the E coli bacteria is related
to turbidity, therefore E. coli test must be taken only if the turbidity test has a
favorable result (Mossa 2006).
In regard socioeconomic indicators, it is necessary to obtain data about
the performance of thepotentially affected industries in the region (fisheries
and tourism) as well as health data.

6. The establishment of a social program that can work directly with the
fisheries in order to gather information that can measure the overall impact of
the outfall commissioning. It is also possible to get some information from the
Queensland government at the department of agriculture, fisheries and
forestry which can provide commercial and recreational fishing data.
After defining indicators, a pilot study must be implemented in order to
ascertain the frequency, timing, and location of the sample collection, as well
as to answer some issues that the REF process could not analyze.
There are questions in regards to how the indicators may work in this
specific environment, how the ecosystems are interconnected and what are
the impacts that one affected ecosystem can cause on other ecosystem.
Additionally, there is no certainty in regard to how many tourists opt to
visit Noosa exclusively because of the beach and therefore, it is not clear the
extension of the impact in this industry. In this case, a survey is necessary to
clarify the impacts on tourism providing quantitative information that can also
be applied in a cost benefit analysis.
The pilot study basically consists in data collection from previous
oceanographic studies, water quality measurements required by law,
indicators and cost analysis.
In Noosa area, there is a monitoring program to analyze water quality,
the results of these program can be easily found at the Waterways Scientific
Services website which is a branch of the Queensland Environmental
Protection Agency and used as reference.
The physical characteristics of the area is important as a way to
estimate the locomotion of the sewage plume and consequently define
sample locations. Information about current, tides and wind can be found at
several sources such as Australian government bureau of methodology and
Integrated marine observing system.
The oceanographic data can be analyzed by running models that takes
into account local currents and tides, so that is possible to define a secure
time to release the sewage and the amount to release it. Modeling of the tides
and current can predict with a certain confidence how the behavior of the
sewage discharged is in different conditions. Additionally, with this tool it is
possible to study the consequences of the population growth over a certain
period.
Knowing the plume dispersion, it is possibleto select the sampling
locations. At this time, it is important to define control locations, as they are
relatively close to the discharge area but at the same time they are not
impacted by the sewage(Scanes 1995). Therefore, the results obtained from
these locations can be compared to affected areas in order to better analyze
the impact of the outfall.
It is required short-term water-quality investigations with smaller

7. intervals in order to be able to analyze correctly the information gathered, to
avail some trends and define a sampling frequency more effectively
(MacDonald 2009).
Therefore, statistical analysis is necessary because they help the
definition of quantity of samples that are necessary to the monitoring program
taking into account the level of confidence desired by the management and
stakeholders. They also can identify trends in sampling results (Clark 2010).
Regarding the community as a stakeholder, a social program can build
an online website with the objective of establishing communication with the
community to inform about results and activities that it is being implementing.
Additionally it can bea way for the community to contribute with the monitoring
program by giving information in regards unusual aesthetics parameters as
water color and odor or even to inform an increase of gastroenteritis cases in
the area.
After designing the methodology, an appropriate cost benefit analysis
must be prepared because the determination of sampling frequency is linked
to the funding available.
The cost benefit analysis must consider the cost of each sampling
locations, the number of samples per each location, sampling analysis,
transportation, staff and the cost of data management and reporting.
Amethod to reduce the cost of sampling is work in partnership
with local council monitoring programs or any other private program as long
as the quality and confidence can be assured. It is also a form to establish
connections with stakeholders.
Some of the research suggested should be applied frequently with the
objective of identify new issues and understand the development of
stakeholders interests and hence improve the monitoring program approach.
In order to ensure the quality and representativeness of the samples it
is essential to establish a QA/QC (Quality assurance/Quality control) program
that contains guidelines and methodologies.
It is necessary to use a certified laboratory to make sure that all QA/QC
related to sample analysis have been done and to estipulate an easy
methodology for samples so that the sampling procedures can be performed
by non-technical people.
The use of control sites is also an appropriate method to compare the
data gathered with results from the background conditions at the same time of
the other sampling. Control sites can also attest any source of contamination
during the manipulation/treatment of the samples that can invalidate the entire
analysis.
Statistical studies also play an important role in regard to the quality
and confidence of the results. This analysis can assure the result with a
determined standard deviation.

8. The quality must be assured at the data reporting and management
process by using checklists and regularly investigating the whole process of
data acquisition and management. Significantly, any nonconformity of the
quality control procedures must be documented and reported to stakeholders
in order to support the interpretation of data.
Management & Knowledge Targets
All the information gathered must be inputted in a database, and the
first step of data management is a review and auditing to ensure that the data
available is reliable. It’s necessaryto determine whether the data is in
accordance with the stakeholders’ necessity as well as it can identify lacksof
information and motivate new research and management queries (Effective
Ecological Monitoring 2010).
Afterwards, the key information such as status of the water quality in
each location, presence of indicators that are not in compliance with
legislation, and socio-economic analysis must be assembled and correctly
designed to be easy understandable as most of the stakeholders are not
technical professionals.
The essential data can be provided with graphs and other visual
information that straightforwardly compare the results achieved with the
established goals.
As referred before, these information can be available to stakeholders
in form of report cards and fact sheets and delivered through website which
can also propose online surveys with the objective of collecting information
about the stakeholders and identify some possible improvements. For
instance, how to show results in a simpler and more effective manner.
Limits and Potential Refinements
To achieve the sustainability and maintain the program sustainable it is
important to keep in mind that the final design of the monitoring program is not
static and it must change over time in order to adapted to new environment
circumstances and stakeholders needs.
Strenuous statistical examination and a conceptual thinking that
ecosystems and its monitoring target components may vary over time must
support the adaptive monitoring program concept.
Therefore, pilot studies should be constantly studied as they can clarify
changes that are occurring in the environment and bring more questions and
issues not supposed previously that reinforces the importance of frequently
study the monitoring program itself.

9. References
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12. Appendix I – Evaluate the likely significance of potential impacts on the
environment
Potential
Potential Significance Potential
Significance Considering the Significance
IMPACTS considering the level of Adverse Considering
extent of Impacts on the Nature of
impacts Environmentally Impacts
Sensitive Areas
Physical & Pollution
Air Impact Low Low Low
Water Impacts High High Low
Soil Impacts - - -
Noise and Vibration
Impacts - - -
Biological
Fauna High High High
Flora High High High
Ecological High High High
Resource Use
Community Response High Low Medium
Natural Resourses High Low Low
Community
Social Impacts High Low Low
Economic Impacts High Low Medium
Heritage, aesthetic, cultural
Impacts Medium Low Low
Land Use Impacts High Low Low
Transportation Impacts - - -
Activity as a Role High Low Medium