A Decision Support System for Licensing Sewage Discharges to Aquatic Environments: Development and Demonstration

Abstract

Licensing discharges to coastal waters can be complex and lengthy. It requires a substantial body of information to be prepared and assessed. Licensing officers and their technical advisors need to understand a broad range of biophysical, economic and social related issues in order to assess the quality, reliability and implications of this information when provided to them. There is also strict time frames legislated for the process and the expertise for the assessment may not always be available within the licensing agencies. The technical aspects of the assessment can be particularly challenging, especially for new licensing officers not experienced with water quality issues. Therefore, the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, in association with regulatory agencies from New South Wales and Victoria have developed a decision support system (DSS) to assist licensing of sewage discharges. Although the DSS was primarily developed for licensing officers, the information contained within the associated help system could also be useful to a wider audience including local government clients or their consultants. The DSS focuses on the scientific and technical aspects of the licensing process and is underpinned by interpretation of the Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality 2000 for licensing discharges. In addition to these Guidelines, other knowledge bases were developed and used including sewer hazards, treatment technology and risk screening advice. The DSS does not provide prescriptive conditions but provides broad advice and a risk screening assessment of contaminants. It also takes into consideration the different policy and legislative requirements of each state. An added feature of the DSS is its comprehensive help system that contains information on how to use the DSS and the contents of each knowledge base. This includes th