Not so baffling: Rockhampton Regional Council winning at sustainability Rockhampton Regional Council aren’t taking any rubbish when it comes to polluting local waterways, and in fact have been recognised as a national leader in sustainability. In 2021, Rockhampton Regional Council were crowned winners of two Australian Sustainable Communities – Tidy Towns Awards winning Environmental Sustainability – Natural Environment and Environmental Sustainability – Water categories. Water and Environmental Sustainability Councillor Donna Kirkland said it was wonderful to have Council’s commitment to the environment recognised. “Being named overall winners in the state, and then being nominated as national finalists, is a testament to many of the great initiatives happening across Rockhampton Regional Council,” Councillor Kirkland said. “The overall nomination captured the diversity of the work that we are doing to improve on and contribute to the environmental sustainability of our Region. “Whether it is Fitzroy River Water reducing energy usage and improving recycled water solutions, or the great work happening in resource recovery and waste management, to sustainability initiatives such as our Natural Resource Management and Living Sustainably programs just to name a few. “Ultimately it’s the environment and our whole community that win from having these initiatives in place.” [...]

FBA & CQUniversity: Sights set on seagrass strategies Fitzroy Basin Association (FBA) is working with CQUniversity to reduce threats to seagrass communities. The Fitzroy region has the largest seaward draining basin in Queensland, with 1,000 km of coastline that is home to extensive seagrass meadows and part of the Great Barrier Reef Heritage area. Seagrass meadows underpin the survival of fish and shellfish the community eats and transform the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, into oxygen. They also filter seawater, capture sediment, stop erosion and provide food for threatened dugong and marine turtle species. Human activity like coastal urban development, storm-water runoff and nutrient pollution can contribute to seagrass degradation and loss. Director of CQUniversity’s Coastal Marine Ecosystems Research Centre (CMERC), Associate Professor Emma Jackson is a leading authority on seagrass. She is researching ways coastal development activity can support rather than compromise seagrass that is essential to fish habitats. By participating with CMERC, FBA has been educating industry and the community about ways to decrease threats to local seagrass. Getting people to understand seagrass value is critical to motivating people to reduce marine pollution. Sustainable recreational use of marine areas throughout the Fitzroy region relies on healthy seagrass, so FBA engages the fishing community in volunteer [...]

Kestrel Coal: Finding the balance in water management Kestrel Coal Resources (Kestrel) appreciates that clean water is a valuable and finite resource, particularly within the Fitzroy River Basin, where there are times of extreme under and over supply – the reality of droughts and flooding rains. These extremes can even occur within the same year, as in 2021 where the year commenced on the back of a number of below average wet seasons, but ended with a major flooding event in December. Managing water across the mine site through these extremes aims to find a balance between water usage, water storage and water release, depending on the conditions at the time. As an underground mine, Kestrel is also particularly aware of the surrounding groundwater system – as a resource for our neighbours, the interaction with surface waterways and Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems, and from deeper aquifers, as an operational and potential safety issue via management of water ingress into the mine. Kestrel Mine’s Water Management fundamentals include: Reducing Raw Water Usage Reverse Osmosis – Kestrel operates 2 x RO plants on site, with capacity for taking a combined feed of 125,000 L/hr of mine water, and producing [...]