MEMP Part 4: Tantangara to Burrinjuck
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ACTEWAGL MURRUMBIDGEE ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING PROGRAM PART 4: TANTANGARA TO BURRINJUCK SPRING 2011 The ALS Water Sciences Group is part of the Environmental Division of ALS, one of the largest and most geographically diverse environmental testing businesses in the world. CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL FOR ISSUE OF DOCUMENTS Client: ActewAGL Project Title: Murrumbidgee Environmental Monitoring Program Report Title: Part 4: Tantangara to Burrinjuck Document No: CN211063-P4--S11-R8-V4 Document Status: For Client Review Date of Issue: 16 March 2012 Comments: Position Name Signature Date Prepared by: Environmental Scientist Zoe Lagerroth 14/03/2012 Internal Review by: Senior Ecologist Phil Taylor 16/03/2012 Peer Review by: Manager, Water Approved by: Norm Mueller 16/03/2012 Sciences ACT For further information on this report, contact: Name: Phil Taylor Title: Environmental Project Manager Address: 16B Lithgow Street, FYSHWICK, ACT 2609 Phone: 02 62025422 E-mail: [email protected] Document Revision Control Version Description of Revision Person Making Issue Date Approval 1 For Client review Phil Taylor 15/03/2012 Norm Mueller 2 Draft Final Phil Taylor, Josh Cox 5/04/2012 Norm Mueller 3 Final Phil Taylor 23/04/2012 Norm Mueller © ALS Water Resources Group This document has been prepared for the Client named above and is to be used only for the purposes for which it was commissioned. The document is subject to and issued in connection with the provisions of the agreement between ALS Water Resources Group and the Client. No warranty is given as to its suitability for any other purpose. Ecowise Australia Pty Ltd trading as ALS Water Resources Group. ABN 94 105 060 320 The photo on the front cover was taken on-site during ALS project work and is © ALS Water Resources Group. ActewAGL Distribution MEMP Part 4: Tantangara to Burrinjuck TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................................... VI EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................... VII 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................................................ 2 1.2 SCOPE OF WORK ................................................................................................................................ 2 2 MATERIALS AND METHODS ................................................................................................................ 3 2.1 STUDY SITES ...................................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 WATER QUALITY .................................................................................................................................. 8 2.3 MACROINVERTEBRATE SAMPLING ......................................................................................................... 8 2.4 DATA ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................... 9 2.5 LICENCES AND PERMITS ..................................................................................................................... 14 3 RESULTS ............................................................................................................................................... 15 3.1 HYDROLOGY AND RAINFALL ................................................................................................................ 15 3.2 WATER QUALITY ............................................................................................................................... 17 3.3 MACROINVERTEBRATE COMMUNITIES ................................................................................................. 26 3.4 UNIVARIATE INDICES .......................................................................................................................... 36 4 DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................................................... 45 4.1 WATER QUALITY ............................................................................................................................... 45 4.2 PATTERNS IN MACROINVERTEBRATE COMMUNITIES ............................................................................. 46 4.3 RIVER HEALTH (AUSRIVAS ASSESSMENT & UNIVARIATE INDICES ) ...................................................... 46 5 CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 48 6 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................... 49 FINAL Spring 2011 ii ActewAGL Distribution MEMP Part 4: Tantangara to Burrinjuck LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1. LOCATION OF MACROINVERTEBRATE SAMPLING SITES AND CONTINUOUS MONITORING STATIONS ON THE MURRUMBIDGEE RIVER ..............................................4 FIGURE 2. SPRING HYDROGRAPH OF THE MURRUMBIDGEE RIVER FLOWS AND RAINFALL ...... 16 FIGURE 3. CORRELATION BASED PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS ANALYSIS ON WATER QUALITY DATA COLLECTED IN SPRING 2011 ............................................................................................. 21 FIGURE 4. CONTINUOUS WATER QUALITY RESULTS RECORDED UPSTREAM OF ANGLE CROSSING IN SPRING 2011 (MURWQ09) ......................................................................... 23 FIGURE 5. CONTINUOUS WATER QUALITY RESULTS FOR LOBB’S HOLE IN SPRING 2011 (410761) ............................................................................................................................................... 24 FIGURE 6. CONTINUOUS WATER QUALITY RESULTS FOR HALL'S CROSSING IN SPRING 2011 (410777) ................................................................................................................................. 25 FIGURE 7. NON-METRIC MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING OF FAMILY LEVEL DATA FOR THE SPRING 2011 RIFFLE SAMPLES ........................................................................................................ 26 FIGURE 8. CLUSTER ANALYSIS OF FAMILY LEVEL DATA FOR THE SPRING RIFFLE SAMPLES ... 27 FIGURE 9. BUBBLE PLOT INDICATING RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF SIMULIIDAE BETWEEN RIFFLE SAMPLES .............................................................................................................................. 30 FIGURE 10. BUBBLE PLOT INDICATING RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF GRIPOPTERYGIDAE BETWEEN RIFFLE SAMPLES ................................................................................................................. 30 FIGURE 11. BUBBLE PLOT INDICATING RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF HYDROPSYCHIDAE BETWEEN RIFFLE SAMPLES ................................................................................................................. 31 FIGURE 12. NON-METRIC MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING OF FAMILY LEVEL DATA FOR THE SPRING EDGE SAMPLES .................................................................................................... 31 FIGURE 13. CLUSTER ANALYSIS OF FAMILY LEVEL DATA FOR THE SPRING EDGE SAMPLES ... 32 FIGURE 14. BUBBLE PLOT INDICATING RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF CORIXIDAE BETWEEN EDGE SAMPLES .............................................................................................................................. 34 FIGURE 15. BUBBLE PLOT INDICATING RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF TALITRIDAE BETWEEN EDGE SAMPLES .............................................................................................................................. 35 FIGURE 16. BUBBLE PLOT INDICATING CHANGES IN ALKALINITY BETWEEN SITES AND ZONES 36 FIGURE 17. MEANS PLOT SHOWING DIFFERENCES IN TAXA RICHNESS BETWEEN ZONES ....... 38 FIGURE 18: MEANS PLOT SHOWING DIFFERENCES IN EPT RICHNESS BETWEEN ZONES ......... 39 FIGURE 19. MEANS PLOT SHOWING DIFFERENCES IN O/E50 SCORE BETWEEN ZONES ............ 40 FIGURE 20. MEANS PLOT SHOWING DIFFERENCES EPT RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF EDGE SAMPLES BETWEEN ZONES .............................................................................................. 41 FIGURE 21. MEANS PLOT SHOWING DIFFERENCES EPT RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF RIFFLE SAMPLES BETWEEN ZONES .............................................................................................. 42 FIGURE 22. MEANS PLOT SHOWING DIFFERENCES OCD RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF RIFFLE SAMPLES BETWEEN ZONES .............................................................................................. 43 FIGURE 23. NUMBER OF EPT TAXA COMPARED TO OVERALL RICHNESS WITHIN EDGE SAMPLES ............................................................................................................................................... 44 FIGURE 24. NUMBER OF EPT TAXA COMPARED TO OVERALL RICHNESS WITHIN RIFFLE SAMPLES ............................................................................................................................................... 44 FINAL Spring 2011 iii ActewAGL Distribution MEMP Part 4: Tantangara to Burrinjuck LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1. SAMPLING SITE LOCATIONS AND DETAILS ...........................................................................5 TABLE 2. ZONE STRUCTURE OF SITES ALONG THE MURRUMBIDGEE RIVER ..................................6