Toowoomba waterways and catchments

Toowoomba City sits in two catchments, made up of the:

• Eastern (flowing into south east Qld); and
• Western (flowing into the Condamine catchment in the Murray Darling Basin).

The waterways in the eastern catchment include various creeks along the length of the eastern escarpment and in parts of the southern escarpment.

Our region's water

Education resources

The major waterways of Toowoomba are in the western Condamine catchment, namely:

• Gowrie Creek;
• East Creek;
• West Creek;
• Black Gully;
• Spring Creek;
• Westbrook Creek; 
• Dry Creek; and
• smaller waterways of Gowrie Creek in the northern catchments.

Management of Toowoomba’s waterways includes protecting and managing:

• Habitat;
• Hydrology; and
• Creek health.

Our State of Environment Report assesses the condition of the creeks, the pressures exerted on them and management actions that Council is working on.  As Toowoomba is the second largest city in the Murray Darling Basin, the management of pollutant sources (point and nonpoint) is significant to this larger catchment.

The importance of the environmental function of waterways, particularly for stormwater management and aquatic ecosystem protection, is reflected in all creek corridors being reserved in the Planning Scheme as parkland.