Draft Environmental Assessment Guideline for Protecting the Quality of Western Australia’s Marine Environment

Overview

Environmental Assessment Guidelines (EAG) are developed by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to provide advice to the general community, proponents, consultants and other stakeholders about procedures, methodologies and the minimum requirements for environmental impact assessment.

This EAG for Protecting the Quality of Western Australia’s Marine Environment sets out an environmental quality management framework that the EPA expects to be applied through environmental impact assessment and other relevant processes to ensure its objective for the environmental factor Marine Environmental Quality is achieved.

The guidance is primarily based on the recommendations and strategies of the National Water Quality Management Strategy, particularly Report 4 Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality and is consistent with previously published EPA policies and positions.

Download EAG 15 DRAFT Environmental Assessment Guideline for Protecting the Quality of Western Australia’s Marine Environment  (pdf 1.13 Mb)

Why your views matter

Protection of the marine environment from pollution is an issue close to the heart of most Western Australians. The community highly values the clean waters along our coastlines that support a healthy and diverse natural ecosystem and make it safe to swim, fish, sail and eat seafood without risk of illness or infection.

This EAG sets out the EPA’s expectations of proponents, consultants and other key stakeholders for the management of marine environmental quality and includes the lessons learnt from over ten years of implementation in WA. The guidance is intended to impart consistency and clarity to the environmental impact assessment of waste discharges to marine waters and provide increased confidence, timeliness and efficiency to the environmental assessment process.

The EPA has endorsed this draft EAG to be released for public comment and is keen to get your views on the guidance being offered. All submissions will be taken into consideration when finalising this document.

Related documents

Australian and New Zealand guidelines for fresh and marine water quality. National Water Quality Management Strategy No 4, Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council and Agricultural and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand, Canberra, ACT.

State Water Quality Management Strategy Report 6: Implementation Framework for Western Australia for the Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality and Water Quality Monitoring and Reporting (Guidelines No.s 4 & 7: National Water Quality Management Strategy). http://www.water.wa.gov.au/PublicationStore/first/45696.pdf

State Environmental (Cockburn Sound) Policy 2005. http://www.epa.wa.gov.au/Policies_guidelines/envpol/Pages/1567_StateEnvironmentalCockburnSoundPolicy2005.aspx?pageID=3&url=Policies_guidelines/envpol

Environmental Quality Criteria Reference Document for Cockburn Sound. A supporting document for the State Environmental (Cockburn Sound) Policy 2005. http://www.epa.wa.gov.au/epadoclib/CS_EQC_0501.pdf

Manual of Standard Operating Procedures for Environmental Monitoring against the Cockburn Sound Environmental Quality Criteria. A supporting document for the State Environmental (Cockburn Sound) Policy 2005. http://www.epa.wa.gov.au/epadoclib/CS_SOP_0501.pdf

Pilbara coastal water quality consultation outcomes: Environmental Values and Environmental Quality Objectives. http://www.epa.wa.gov.au/EPADocLib/pilbaracoastalwaterquality_Marine%20Report%201.pdf

Perth’s coastal waters: Environmental values and objectives – the position of the EPA, a working document. http://www.epa.wa.gov.au/EPADocLib/1982_PerthsCoastalWaters.pdf