WATER QUALITY IS A KEY ENVIRONMENTAL FOCUS AT THE PORT OF BRISBANE

The Port is located directly adjacent to the Moreton Bay Marine Park and close to the Moreton Bay RAMSAR site. These protected areas include a number of sensitive habitats such as seagrass, mangroves, salt marsh and coral reefs.

Research has identified sediment as a major factor that negatively impacts water quality in Moreton Bay. The majority of sediment in the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay comes from the regional catchment – mostly from degraded creek banks and beds.

The Port of Brisbane has the potential to impact on local water quality through stormwater runoff, dredging, and general vessel movement. These potential impacts are all managed and minimised by our internationally-accredited Environmental Management System and in accordance with relevant State and Federal legislation.

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT AT THE PORT

Stormwater runoff has the potential to carry sediment, nutrients and other contaminants such as oils, greases and heavy metals into the surrounding environment. A variety of urban sensitive stormwater design principles and stormwater treatment systems are used at the port to ensure that the impacts of stormwater runoff on the receiving environment is minimised.

Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd (PBPL) monitors the condition of the Port's stormwater to assess the effectiveness of control measures and the quality of waters discharged into the environment. Together with partners, we’ve developed an innovative approach to stormwater management at Port of Brisbane, which is delivering beneficial outcomes here at the Port and well beyond the ‘port gate’ at our project sites around South East Queensland.

Soil and GROUNDWATER

PBPL implements a program that monitors the chemical and physical characteristics of the Port's soil and groundwater. This monitoring can assist in identifying any activities at the port which may have caused an impact on local groundwater (e.g. leaks or spills) and allows action to be taken to address any issues.

Dredge Turbidity

Dredging is necessary to ensure safe navigational depths of the shipping channel for commercial vessels visiting the Port of Brisbane. PBPL has undertaken detailed turbidity monitoring of our dredging and placement activities since the 1990s and the results have been consistent in showing turbidity impacts are localised and do not impact upon sensitive receptors. We voluntarily publish our detailed monitoring reports on our website.

Our maintenance dredging requirements in the Port’s shipping channel are largely driven by eroding waterways in the Brisbane River catchment, primarily the Lockyer Valley.

Learn more about how we are helping to address this problem through our Offsite Stormwater Treatment approach.