The importance of riparian vegetation in improving water quality (Establishing the Potential for Offset Trading in the Lower Fitzroy River Research Report No. 2)

Abstract

[Abstract]: Non-point source water pollution of waterways is a significant environmental problem throughout the Fitzroy Basin. Grazing being the major land use (i.e. about 88 percent of the land area in the region), it is also the major source of pollutants, including sediment and nutrients (mainly nitrogen and phosphorus). The effect of livestock grazing, and the need for the restoration of the riparian vegetation zones along the waterways to reduce nutrient and sediment inputs is being recommended. Maintaining riparian zone vegetation is also crucial for the water quality of the catchment as well as the GBR lagoon. Riparian buffer zones can improve and maintain water quality by filtering sediment, nutrients, organic mater, and pesticides from surface and groundwater flow, through the processes of deposition, absorption, plant uptake, and denitrification. It can effectively reduce the amount of sediment reaching streams and rivers. A relatively large body of studies exists that support the use of riparian buffer strips to manage nutrients and sediments. While it is well recognized that buffer zones have great potential to improve water quality and enhance riparian biodiversity, however how best to realize this potential is still a matter of considerable debate. In many occasions, a patchwork of policies and initiatives featuring either a regulatory or marketbased or a mixture of regulatory and voluntary approaches have developed to encourage the protection/establishment of riparian buffer zones. In this report, the importance of riparian zones in reducing sediment and nutrient loads into the receiving waters are described and a review of on-ground initiatives in the region is made.