Topography, Hydrology and Drainage

4 THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

Topography, Hydrology and Drainage

The Land lies within the Myall River catchment and is about 700m upstream of where the Crawford River joins the Myall from the west. A further 3km upstream Frys Creek joins the Myall from the east. After joining the Crawford, the Myall River flows south east into the Boombah Broadwater and the Coast.

The Land is not impacted by the Coastal Management Act 2016 because of its distance from the coastline. However, the Reserve is located on a floodplain and is therefore subject to Clause 7.3 (Flood Planning) of the LEP.

Clause 7.3 objectives are to:

 minimise the flood risk to life and property associated with the use of the land,

 allow development on land that is compatible with the land’s flood hazard, taking into account projected changes as a result of climate change, and

 avoid significant adverse impacts on flood behavior and the environment.

The Land is gently undulating to flat and falls from the centre to both the north east (see Figure 4) and south west corners (see Figure 5).

The area denoted A on Figure 4 shows the exit point of drainage water to the north east which drains well. However, blockage points denoted B and to end of the swale denoted D create water logging problems in times of medium to high rainfall. An “Ag” drain under the swale at C may allow those dish drains to better cope with water flows coming from the helipad area.