King and Yolande Sustainability Review Water quality and river health
Sustainability reviews provide Hydro Tasmania with opportunities to evaluate our Once collected, water quality information will be assessed against historical data and site-specific triggers (where operations in the water catchments we use available) to determine any change from past measurements to generate hydropower. Following our or the need for further action. Water quality in West Coast recent community information sessions and lakes will continue to be monitored in the future on a feedback surveys, we will now take steps to rotating basis, in line with our state-wide Lake Monitoring better understand the water quality and river Strategy. health within the King and Yolande Metal loads to Lake Burbury catchments. As part of the Sustainability Review, we will investigate how metals in runoff from legacy mining activities contribute to Water quality metal concentrations in Lake Burbury. Water quality was rated as the second highest concern in Event-based monitoring (where water quality is assessed the community consultation survey. Water management under a range of flow conditions) will be undertaken to and erosion were generally considered less important. Two determine the load (how much), and distribution (how respondents commented on pollution in the King River from widespread), of metals entering Lake Burbury from mine mine discharge to the Queen River. Concerns regarding runoff in Idaho and Linda Creeks. This investigation will be mine discharge via Linda Creek to Lake Burbury were also undertaken from autumn until spring 2020 in order to raised in the information review. capture the full range of seasonal flows. Baseline water quality and river health information is The results of the investigation will help us to determine the important to collect for the lakes and rivers we manage. risks, if any, associated with mine discharge to the lake. It Baseline information allows us to measure any substantial may also identify ways in which we might address them if change in water quality over time and better understand required. our waterways.
We undertake water quality monitoring on lakes and rivers we are responsible for. Due to the large number of waterways we manage, monitoring is typically undertaken on a rotational basis.
Lake water quality In response to the review of existing information during the Sustainability Review process, we commenced a West Coast Lakes Baseline Water Quality Monitoring Program in September 2019. This will run until the end of May 2020.
The program involves bi-monthly monitoring of Lake Burbury at five sites and one site at Lake Margaret.
Measurements of nutrients, metals, and aspects necessary Water quality management: Lake Burbury to support aquatic life such as dissolved oxygen, will be taken at the surface and various depths to collect information on water quality across the lakes.
King and Yolande Sustainability Review | Water Quality and River Health 1 King and Yolande Sustainability Review Water quality and river health
River health We routinely monitor the health of our rivers as part of our River Baseline Monitoring Program. The program assesses bugs that live in the river, which provide a good indication of river health and water quality.
As part of the Sustainability Review, river health was monitored at West Coast sites in spring 2019 and autumn 2020.
Sites include the King River downstream of John Butters Power Station and the Yolande River at Zeehan Highway.
Results from this year’s program will be compared to historic data to determine trends in river health across our
West Coast catchments.
Where results are outside of the expected range and cannot be readily accounted for by climate and operations, further investigation is typically undertaken to identify reasons for change and appropriate management actions.
River health assessment: Bug monitoring on the West Coast
Contact us River management: Yolande River King and Yolande Sustainability Review Team Post: GPO Box 355, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
Email: [email protected]
Call: 1300 360 441 (Local call cost Australia-wide)
River management: King River
King and Yolande Sustainability Review | Water Quality and River Health 2