Blue Mountains City Council

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State of Environment

Many communities locally and globally now recognise that humans and their activities impact on the state of their immediate environment and their natural surroundings. These human activities, creating pressure on our natural environment, require a response so that we can maintain and enhance the natural assets on which our quality of life depends.

Monitoring and reporting on the state of the environment over time increases our understanding of the pressures and their impacts, enabling us to respond more appropriately and effectively. Reporting on the state of the environment ensures that important information is made available to all those people and organisations whose activities impact on the environment positively or negatively.

Local councils have an important responsibility and are required under the Local Government Act to prepare State of the Environment Reports and to show in their Management Plans and Annual Reports how they, as stewards of their local communities, are addressing the issues raised in the State of the Environment Reports.

2007-2008 State of Environment Report for the City of Blue Mountains

The latest State of Environment Report is now available, and may be downloaded at right.

Did you know:

  • The majority of local waterways in the Blue Mountains remain in relatively good condition.
  • There are seven ecological communities present in the Blue Mountains that have been listed as threatened as well as 47 species of plants and 38 species of animals.
  • Approximately 86% of the Blue Mountains local government area is protected bushland with National Park covering approximately 70% of the total area of the City and a further 16% of protected land being predominantly native vegetation.
  • There are 69 sites either heritage listed or with indicative heritage listing and there are also over 700 sites of local significance listed in LEP 2005 and LEP 1991.
  • Volumes of waste going to landfill have been steadily decreasing from 63,115 tonnes in 2003-2004 to 45,950 tonnes in 2007-2008 (a decrease of 27%).
  • There is no reliable data on air quality in the Blue Mountains.
  • Most noise complaints received by the Council relate to barking dogs.

The 2007-2008 State of the Environment Report for the Blue Mountains also includes:

  • A summary of the pressures on our natural assets;
  • A summary of what community, Council and other agencies are doing to improve the condition of our natural assets;
  • Trend data;
  • An analysis of moving around in the Blue Mountains;
  • A summary of the achievements of the 2007-2008 Environment Levy Program;
  • A summary of community environmental action;
  • A summary of school environmental action; and
  • A summary of potential environmental impacts of the council’s activities and responses.