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EASTSIDE RADIO (89.7
fm) - www.eastsidefm.org
GREEN CITY (Tuesday,
5.30 – 6 pm
– hosted by
Joanne Bacic)
Week 1 Tuesday,
22 June, 2004: Strategic
Planning Overview
The introduction
to the series on Botany
Bay was an interview
by Joanne Bacic with
Susan Taljaard, Environmental
Scientist, CSIR, Stellenbosch,
who gave a seminar
on 18 June, "Research
and Management of
Estuaries in South
Africa" at UNSW
Water Research Laboratory
(www.wrl.unsw.edu.au).
The key message was
involving stakeholders
in the sustainable
management of resources.
The significance
of Botany Bay and
the complex and conflicting
values associated
with the bay were
outlined by John Black,
Director of the UNSW
Botany Bay Studies
Unit.
The future of Botany
Bay is linked to two
strategic planning
documents that the
community is encouraged
to read and to comment
on the New South Wales
Department of Infrastructure
Planning and Natural
Resources (www.dipnr.nsw.gov.au).
The “Metropolitan
Strategy” is
being advanced during
2004. The Minister’s
Direction Paper is
available at www.metrostrategy.nsw.gov.au
and the website provides
an opportunity for
people to register
interest in obtaining
regular updates. John
Black attended the
Sydney Futures Forum
on May 18 and 19 noting
the importance of
“place management”
and inputs from the
grass roots level
in informing the development
of strategies.
The community would
be especially interested
in the release by
the Minister on 1
June, 2004, of the
Discussion Paper on
the Botany Bay Draft
Strategy inviting
public comment over
a three-month period.
A Sydney Metropolitan
Catchment Management
Authority is proposed.
A range of stakeholders
were represented on
the Botany Bay Strategy
Advisory Committee,
including UNSW (Professor
John Benzie, former
Director Botany Bay
Studies Unit) and
the University of
Sydney (Professor
Tony Underwood). The
advisory committee
endorsed the importance
of independent scientific
research into Botany
Bay that would inform
decision makers, and
the importance of
communicating information
and research findings
to the wider community.
The Botany Bay Studies
Unit has been involved
in research scoping
exercises, and on
28 February 2004 convened
a workshop at UNSW
to identify research
topics and research
priorities. About
120 representatives
from government, NGOs,
industry, the community
and research institutions
were involved. The
program may be found
at www.bbsu.unsw.edu.au.
Research recommendations
are presented in the
Botany
Bay Moving Forward
report also available
on the same website.
The topics include
the hydrodynamics
of the bay, storm
water and waste water,
ground water and pollutants,
ecology and habitats,
foreshores, airport,
port and transport
and environmental
history and industrial
legacy. These topics
will form the basis
of later programs.
One research area
identified in the
workshop, and mentioned
on the program, was
to be informed of
overseas and Australian
models of governance
and management of
urbanised bays and
estuaries. The Botany
Bay Studies Unit is
advancing this recommendation
with a public lecture
from an expert panel
on Tuesday evening,
19 July, 2005 (next
year) in the Scientia
Building, UNSW. The
organising panel includes
Jim Colman (SSROC),
Nancy Hillier (Botany
Historical Society)
and Paul Beavis (doctoral
candidate, UNSW).
Information will be
posted on this website
next year.
Week 2 covers transport
– the value
of research, sustainable
transport, port traffic,
and aircraft noise
and community health
and well-being. Listeners
are invited to contact
Joanne Bacic with
other topics they
may wish to hear about.
<<
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Week 2 Tuesday,
29 June, 2004: Transport
The purpose of these
notes is to encourage
community discussion
and debate on the
NSW Department of
Infrastructure, Planning
and Natural Resources
Discussion Paper Towards
a Strategy for Botany
Bay (www.dipnr.nsw.gov.au/botanybay).
In the radio program,
transport issues covered
were passenger transport
and sustainability,
Port Botany and freight
transport, and aircraft
noise and community
impacts.
A major thrust of
the Discussion Paper
Towards a Strategy
for Botany Bay is
improving management,
establishing management
goals, and initiatives
to improve the management
process. For this
reason, there is limited
specific mention of
transport plans other
than the important
consideration of reducing
and managing impacts
of transport –
the demand for transport,
the port and freight
traffic and the relationship
to metropolitan planning
(see broadcast notes,
Week 1).
Policies to make
transport more sustainable
are justified at a
number of levels.
In Australia, the
transport sector contributes
about 14 per cent
of net greenhouse
gas emissions –
making Australia the
3rd highest per capita
producer of greenhouse
gases. Motor vehicles
contribute about 70
per cent of the total,
and the number of
motor vehicles in
Australia is likely
to grow substantially
over the next 10 years.
In metropolitan Sydney,
air quality has been
recognised as a major
issue for 10 years
and the NSW Government
has set strategic
targets to reduce
the vehicle-kilometres
of travel (VKT) by
motor vehicles in
the future. Progress
towards a more “sustainable”
urban transport sector
can be informed by
research into suitable
performance indicators.
Readers interested
in pursuing this topic
further are encouraged
to search appropriate
websites, of which
the following may
prove a useful start.
http://www-ivv.tuwien.ac.at/projects/prospects/Deliverables/D2v6web.pdf
http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/sustainable_development/progress
http://www.rprogress.org/programs/sustainabilityindicators/
http://www.cstctd.org
In outline, a more
sustainable future
city will reduce the
problems of low-density
sprawling suburbs
that are car-dependant
and will provide a
fair access to land-use
activities, provide
better public transport
with higher usage
of “green transport”
modes such as walking,
cycling and public
transport. Policies
of urban consolidation
have implications
for residents around
Botany Bay with future
growth of 77 000 new
residents expected
by 2026 and that additional
pressure on transport
infrastructure and
services.
Metropolitan growth
also entails an expansion
of the freight task.
The numbers of container
movements into and
out of Sydney are
expected to triple
over the next 20 years,
and if plans for an
expansion of Port
Botany go ahead there
will be issues of
land-side transport
access both road and
rail to resolve. Research
can inform the decision
making process, as
recognised in the
recommendations of
the Botany Bay Moving
Forward Workshop,
by examining a range
of options to accommodate
maritime transport
in terms of economic,
social and environmental
impacts, and by obtaining
a better understanding
of the urban collection
and distribution of
the freight packed
in containers. The
Botany Bay Studies
Unit has been commissioned
to undertake a detailed
research scoping study
of urban freight and
Port Botany. In addition,
Paul Beavis has been
awarded a CSIRO Endowment
Fund to organise and
conduct a workshop
of stakeholders including
community representatives
on freight futures,
planned for later
in 2005. (BBSU
RESEARCH PROJECTS)
Also associated with
a larger metropolitan
region and tourist
promotion is a demand
to accommodate passengers
and freight at Sydney
Airport. More planes
mean an increase in
aircraft noise in
suburbs surrounding
the airport. Research
conducted at UNSW
has developed a new
noise metric to assess
the impact of aircraft
noise on the community
that takes into account
the background environmental
noise (BBSU
RESEARCH REPORT 1)
Research in progress
is investigating if
there are relationships
between the measured
noise and resident’s
reported assessment
of their health and
well being. The community
can assist greatly
in research by responding
to requests by researchers
to participate in
social surveys. In
this study (jointly
conducted by the School
of Public Health and
Community Medicine,
Faculty of Medicine,
and the School of
Civil Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering),
we thank those residents
of noise affected
and control areas
for return our questionnaire
(based on a validated
instrument to assess
health status developed
at Harvard University).
The Botany Bay Studies
Unit has been approached
by a group from Kurnell
to respond to ideas
for a novel scheme
for noise mitigation
in localities outside
of the approved Federal
Government scheme
for the noise reduction
in residential dwellings.
The proposal is awaiting
a response for funding.
<<
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Week 3 Tuesday,
5 July, 2004: Contaminants
in Botany Bay
The opening segment
to the program was
a recorded interview
with a representative
of a community group
highlighted issues
on Botany Bay, including
port proposals. Transport
was the topic of week
2, including discussions
on sustainability.
Sydney University
are hosting a one-day,
free symposium on
“Sustainable
Transport in Sustainable
Cities”
at the Everest Theatre,
Seymore Centre on
Thursday, 22 July
2004.
The problem is that
“cocktail”
of pollutants enter
Botany Bay from various
sources such as run-off
into rivers and creeks,
storm water, groundwater
and leaks of sewage.
There are multiple
sources of contaminants
that become diluted
in the bay and dispersed
making monitoring
of the whole bay a
complex scientific
matter to resolve.
It is therefore difficult
to establish environmental
stress and we lack
a base level reference
against which progress
towards sustainability
(or otherwise) may
be assessed.
Fortunately, Alberto
Albani has established
a scientific method
to study the permanent
record of water quality
that is found on the
sea bed. The distribution
of organisms and sedimentary
geology reflect quality
of water masses. Foraminifera
- a marine protozoa
that secrets a shell
(0.1 to 2mm in size)
- are ideal organisms
for measuring long-term
changes. They are
in high abundance,
making detection possible,
and they are sensitive
to salinity, temperature,
water depth and food
sources. Sampling
from the bay and laboratory
analysis provides
valuable information.
For further details
go to BBSU
RESEARCH REPORT 2
The Botany Bay Studies
Unit is proposing
research to establish
the base line for
monitoring by identifying
the assemblages of
Foraminifera in the
Bay, and investigating
the relationship between
these populations
and environmental
parameters.
Previous research
has established that
the high contaminant
loads such as heavy
metals are at the
mouth of rivers (see,
for example, the research
published by Gavin
Birch at Sydney University,
“The Dominance
of Point-source in
Heavy Metal Distribution
in Sediments of a
Major Sydney Estuary”’
in Journal of Environmental
Geology, Volume 28,
Number 1).
Field research at
UNSW by Dr Emma Johnston
at Caltex Pier studies
the concentrations
of heavy metals that
are at background
levels because this
area is flushed by
oceanic water. Her
research area is how
pollution may facilitate
the invasion of marine
communities where
the Caltex Pier as
a non-polluted site
at which to run experiments.
Earlier research has
established the effects
of a single pulse
copper pollution event
on established marine
assemblages in Port
Philip Bay (“Direct
and Indirect Effects
of Repeated Pollution
Events on Marine Hard-Substrate
Assemblages”
in Ecological Applications,
Volume 12, Number
4).
One of the agreed
values for Botany
Bay (discussed in
Week 1) is the recreational
importance of the
bay, including recreational
fishing. Therefore
an important question
for the community
is whether toxic heavy
metals get into fish.
(It is an important
personal question
as John Black had
promised to eat edible
fish caught in Botany
Bay by his Tutor at
UNSW, Toshihito Kato
- to whom he gave
as a present a fish
lure in thanks for
excellent teaching
in Japanese Communication
2A. Iain Suthers at
UNSW is a scientist
with extensive research
into fish that informs
the following observations.
There is no scientific
evidence that the
toxic levels in fish
in Botany Bay pose
any problems to human
health if eaten. There
is tidal flushing
of the bay. Fish migrate
in and out of the
bay. Some elements
absorbed by fish occur
naturally whereas
others are from contaminants.
Elements tend to be
stored in parts of
the fish that we do
not eat.
None of the above
suggests we should
be complacent about
the issue of contaminants
in Botany Bay. We
all should take responsibility
to prevent the generation
of contaminants and
making sure nothing
harmful enters the
bay. The Orica site
is a major concern
and so next week’s
program will focus
more on where the
contaminants have
come from. It will
discuss ground water
and remediation technologies
available and how
research and development
might inform decision-making
processes.
Updated 15/07/04
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