Ipswich Council has been looking strategically at the Bundamba Creek Catchment identifying its values, threats and opportunities.
Working with many different organisations on current and future management; we are hoping to use, protect and enhance the creek for many years to come.
The lower part of Bundamba catchments has been 'built out' or developed some time ago. It is mainly urban with some light industry and urban parkland. Here we are looking to improve the resilience of the creek to flood and surface water pollution
The mid catchment is currently low level residential and agricultural/grazing grass lands however pre European settlement it would have been a combination of forested land and wetlands. The clearing of the land has changed the creek's behaviour and shape. In the Ripley Valley area development has been planned over the next 20-30 years. This change in land use will again influence the behaviour and the shape of the creek and the amounts and speeds of water entering the system change.
Ipswich City Council encourages Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD). This is a process of design that tries to minimise potentially detrimental impacts of developments on our catchments using water management techniques that mimic natural processes.
The upper catchment remains open agricultural and grazing land. Whilst pressures and threats are different to those in built or developing areas they are still present. Clearing for grazing or agriculture can destabilise soils and banks and alter flows. Grazing animals can also cause turbidity and erode banks whilst run off from agriculture contains high levels of nutrients which can cause eutrophic algal blooms.