Water quality is routinely assessed in many rivers and estuaries around the state. This provides us with important information on the status of these waterways and can help us target our management actions.
We also use the information to build an understanding as to how the waterways function and how nutrients and other contaminants behave over time (seasonal changes and long-term trends). Variables that are regularly assessed include total and dissolved nutrient concentrations, temperature, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen and total suspended solids.
Changes in water quality can have a detrimental effect on rivers and estuaries. For example, higher than natural levels of nutrients can allow algae to grow to nuisance levels, causing algal blooms. When these blooms collapse and decompose they can consume oxygen from the water, which may cause fish kills. Some contaminants, such as herbicides and pesticides, can be toxic to the plants and animals found in rivers and estuaries. Lastly, changes to water quality can also impact animals in less obvious ways, such as affecting growth and reproduction, which can have long term affects on river and estuarine health.
Water quality is generally related to surrounding landuse. Utilising best management practices can greatly reduce the impact that a particular landuse has on nearby waterways.