Water Quality and Stream Condition on King Island, 2004 - 2008
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WATER QUALITY AND STREAM CONDITION ON KING ISLAND, 2004 - 2008 This report has been produced by Cradle Coast Natural Resource Management and the King Island Natural Resource Management Group to further natural resource management goals and objectives in the Cradle Coast Region. Maps, photos and other components of this report remain the joint property of Cradle Coast NRM and King Island NRM Group. All site photographs were taken by Helen Strickland. This report was written by Debbie Searle, through the Launceston Environment Centre, 1/04/2010. Peer review by Toni Furlonge. This report should not be considered as a guide to the suitability of water for drinking, domestic, recreational or agricultural purposes. Acknowledgments: We gratefully acknowledge the funding assistance for this project provided by the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust and Caring for our Country programs. The following organisations are thanked for their support and contribution to the community water monitoring program on King Island: Cradle Coast Natural Resource Management Committee; King Island Natural Resource Management Group; North West Waterwatch Inc.; King Island Council, King Island Dairies and the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and the Environment. Thanks also to Katie Brown, Bronwyn Graham, Ken Baker, Eva Finzel, Helen Strickland and the many community volunteers, whose interest, enthusiasm and activities contribute to the increased knowledge and improved management of King Island’s natural resources. 2 WATER QUALITY AND STREAM CONDITION ON KING ISLAND, 2004 - 2008 Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 4 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................... 8 2. Cradle Coast NRM ............................................................................................................................................... 9 3. King Island NRM Group ..................................................................................................................................... 10 4. King Island .......................................................................................................................................................... 10 5. The Water Monitoring Program .......................................................................................................................... 12 6. Assessing Water Quality .................................................................................................................................... 13 7. Assessing Stream Condition .............................................................................................................................. 16 8. The Sites ............................................................................................................................................................ 19 Sea Elephant River at Bicentennial Road .............................................................................................................. 19 Fraser River at Fraser Road .................................................................................................................................. 23 Yellow Rock River at North Yellow Rock Road ..................................................................................................... 27 Porky Creek at North Road .................................................................................................................................... 31 Grassy River at Grahams Road ............................................................................................................................. 35 Egg Lagoon Creek at Mansons Road .................................................................................................................... 39 Seal River at Seal River Road ............................................................................................................................... 43 Ettrick River at old DPIW Monitoring Station ......................................................................................................... 47 Yarra Creek at Millwood Road ............................................................................................................................... 51 Lake Flannigan ....................................................................................................................................................... 55 Lake Flannigan Drain at Wickham Road ............................................................................................................... 59 9. Recommendations ............................................................................................................................................. 61 Appendix 1: Site Locations ..................................................................................................................................... 62 Appendix 2: Site Characteristics for the AUSRIVAS model .................................................................................. 62 Appendix 3: Water Quality Parameters ................................................................................................................. 63 References ............................................................................................................................................................. 65 3 WATER QUALITY AND STREAM CONDITION ON KING ISLAND, 2004 - 2008 Executive Summary This report presents the results of a water monitoring program established by Cradle Coast Natural Resource Management and the King Island Natural Resource Management Group, with the assistance of North West Waterwatch Inc. The program was part of the Priority Project “A Water Quality Monitoring Program and Reporting Framework for the Cradle Coast Region” established with the assistance of the Commonwealth Natural Heritage Trust Fund. King Island is approximately 1,100 km2 in area and is located in the west of Bass Strait. It is generally characterized by low relief, with distinct physiographic areas. These differing areas have caused the development of streams of distinctly different characteristics, behaviour and management. This variability needs to be kept in mind when reading this report. Eleven sites were monitored, nine of those monthly from November 2004 until the end of 2008. One site was monitored in 2005 and one from 2006 to 2008. Water quality parameters measured were electrical conductivity (salinity), pH, temperature, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and phosphate. Samples were taken at nine sites and tested for total nitrogen and total phosphorus; intermittently in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and quarterly in 2008. All sampling, measurement and data management were conducted in accordance with national and state standards and were subject to regular and rigorous quality controls. No monitoring of flow quantities was carried out, however anecdotal evidence was recorded, for example, no perceptible flow, low flow, water level high. Photographic evidence and information on the state of riparian habitat at each site was recorded. In addition, AUSRIVAS rapid biological assessments were undertaken at eight of the sites in 2005 and 2006. In this report the 2007 and the 2008 results have been compared to ANZECC guidelines to gain an overall picture of water quality across the island. Due to the low lying nature of King Island, this report has used the lowland river values for streams. These are the most relevant benchmarks available but it should be noted that they were developed for much larger rivers. Water quality data collected on King Island has been analysed and results from 2004, 2005 and 2006 have been used to generate local site-specific current-status trigger values where possible. These local trigger values are calculated from the 80th percentiles of the data (20th percentiles for pH as well). In this report these trigger values have been used as benchmarks to assess data from 2007 and 2008. The development of local trigger values for turbidity fulfils part of Management Action Target Water 3, “Use historic data to establish trigger values for …turbidity in selected catchments….” The development of the local trigger values for turbidity will allow the tracking of progress towards Resource Condition Target Water 2, “No increasing trend from 2006 trigger levels in turbidity … at all monitored sites: by 2010. “ The development of local trigger values for electrical conductivity goes part way towards assessing progress towards Resource Condition Target Water 4, “Surface water salt loads maintained below established trigger levels in key catchments including King Island: by 2015.” 4 WATER QUALITY AND STREAM CONDITION ON KING ISLAND, 2004 - 2008 Local Site-Specific Current-Status Trigger Values Site Code Waterbody EC pH pH Temp- Turbidity Dissolved Phos- (µS/cm) 20th 80th erature (FTU) Oxygen phate (oC) (mg/L) (ppm) KINGIS01 Sea Elephant River 675 5.93 6.66 17.0 63 7.14 0.60 KINGIS04 Porky Creek 2556 7.25 7.78 16.4 22 6.54 1.11 KINGIS05 Grassy River 439 6.70 6.99 15.5 79 9.70 0.76 KINGIS06 Egg Lagoon Creek 6362 7.37 7.72 18.2 59 9.32 0.35 KINGIS07 Seal River 21140 6.58 7.19 16.0 133 4.11 0.50 KINGIS09 Ettrick River 799 7.86 8.13 15.2 65 10.80 0.32 KINGIS11 Yarra Creek 458 6.58 7.05 15.1 66 9.60 1.29 AUSRIVAS