Risk-based approach to protecting Victoria's waters
EPA adopts a risk-based approach to identify where there may be adverse impacts on water bodies. If a risk to the water environment is identified, action should be taken to address that risk.
A risk-based approach to assessing environmental quality and impacts on waterways is increasingly being adopted by environmental agencies and research bodies. This approach incorporates ecosystem variability and complexity into the evaluation and assessment of adverse ecological effects. For example, this approach has been adopted in the Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality (2000).
The Government of Victoria has endorsed the new Australian Water Quality Guidelines, and EPA used this risk-based approach as the basis for the environmental quality objectives in the State environment protection policy (Waters of Victoria).
These objectives set the level of environmental quality required to protect aquatic ecosystems. If the objectives are not met, it signals a potential risk to the ecosystem, which is then investigated using the risk-based approach.
For more information view:
- EPA Publication 961 – Guideline for Environmental Management: Risk-Based Assessment of Ecosystem Protection in Ambient Waters
(Adobe PDF file, 1527KB or 1.5MB)
- EPA Publication 1209 – Draft guidelines for risk assessment of wastewater discharges to waterways (Adobe PDF file, 464KB)
- EPA Publication 1257 – An ecological risk assessment of the lower Wimmera River (Adobe PDF file, 1244KB or 1.2MB)