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Water Quality Monitoring of the Bellinger and Kalang Rivers 2015-16

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Water Quality Monitoring of the Bellinger and Kalang Rivers 2015-16 Water Quality Monitoring of the Bellinger and Kalang Rivers Technical Report for Bellingen Shire Council Sarah Mika, Adrienne Burns and Darren Ryder 1 Water Quality Monitoring of the Bellinger and Kalang Rivers 2015-16 Technical Report for Bellingen Shire Council Dr Sarah Mika, Dr Adrienne Burns, A/Prof. Darren Ryder. School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351 This report should be cited as: Mika, S., Burns, A. and Ryder, D.S (2016). Water Quality Monitoring of the Bellinger and Kalang Rivers 2015-16. Technical Report for Bellingen Shire Council. University of New England, Armidale. Project contact: Dr Sarah Mika School of Environmental and Rural Science University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351 Email: [email protected] Cover Photo: Confluence of Bellinger and Kalang Rivers at Urunga (D.Ryder, 2015). 2 Summary Bellingen Shire Council (BSC) resolved to conduct water quality monitoring to inform the Council, community and various government and non-government agencies of the current water quality of Bellingen Shire’s rivers and estuaries. The aim of the monitoring program was to compare results with the Australian and New Zealand Environment Conservation Council (ANZECC) and NSW Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (MER) water quality guidelines for healthy aquatic ecosystems. Water quality including on-site physico-chemical variables and nutrient and algal concentrations were sampled during low flows at eight sites on the Bellinger and Kalang Rivers and their tributaries on 24 November 2015 (T1), 15 February 2016 (T2), 12 April 2016 (T3), and 12 July 2016 (T4), and on 23 June 2016 immediately after a flood event. Microbial Source Tracking (MST) to identify the risk of E.coli contamination was recorded in the lower Bellinger and Kalang estuaries in the post flood period. Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus concentrations exceeded the ANZECC/MER trigger values in all estuary and freshwater sites at some point in the study, and were particularly high in the T3 and T4 low flow periods. Bioavailable nutrients are directly able to be assimilated by aquatic flora and fauna. Available nitrogen (NOx) concentrations were consistently above the ANZECC/MER trigger value in estuary sites for all sample times, peaking at 286 µg/L (19 times trigger value) in the Bellinger estuary. NOx concentrations exceeded MER trigger values in all freshwater sites on all occasions except T1 when values were generally lower. All upper and lower estuary sites in the Bellinger and Kalang Rivers exceeded the ANZECC/MER guidelines for available phosphorus at all sampling times. In contrast, Never Never Creek, Rosewood River and Spicketts Creek did not exceed the ANZECC guideline in the study. The post flood sampling identified Total Nitrogen concentrations were below the MER trigger values at all sites except Spicketts Creek. In contrast, all Total Phosphorus and available nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations were well above MER trigger values and above the mean low flow concentrations for all freshwater and estuary sites. Three main themes have emerged: (1) Water quality deteriorated in T3 and T4 sampling events after prolonged periods of low flows; (2) the consistently high nutrient concentrations did not result in chlorophyll a concentrations exceeding the trigger values at any site or time; and (3) Spicketts Creek stood out as the system with consistently elevated nutrient concentrations in both post flood and low flow periods, and the only system to record dissolved oxygen concentrations that may stress biota. 3 Table of Contents 1. Background ...............................................................................................................................5 2. Study Design and Field Sampling ...............................................................................................5 3. Results .......................................................................................................................................7 3.1 NSW MER Water Quality Objectives and ANZECC guidelines during low flows ......................7 3.11 Nutrients ........................................................................................................................7 3.12 Physico-chemistry ...........................................................................................................8 4. Post Flood Sampling Event .............................................................................................................. 10 4.1 Water chemistry................................................................................................................. 10 4.2 Microbial Source Tracking .................................................................................................. 10 Appendix 1 ........................................................................................................................................... 12 Appendix 2 ........................................................................................................................................... 14 Appendix 3 ........................................................................................................................................... 15 Appendix 4 .......................................................................................................................................... 22 4 1. Background Bellingen Shire Council (BSC) resolved to conduct water quality monitoring to inform the Council, community and various government and non-government agencies of the current water quality of Bellingen Shire’s rivers and estuaries. The aim of the monitoring program was to compare results with the ANZECC and NSW MER water quality guidelines for healthy aquatic ecosystems from sites that were: (1) assessed in the Bellinger-Kalang Rivers Ecohealth Project 2009-10, (2) within the zone of the Bellinger River Snapping Turtle mortality event of 2015, (3) downstream of the 2014 Rock Fillets project, (4) downstream of the 2015-16 Friesians and Fish project zone, (5) downstream of the Bellingen Island River Bank Stabilisation projects 2011 and 2013, (6) downstream of the Arthur Keogh Reserve Riparian Rehabilitation project 2012, (7) downstream of the Moody’s Bridge River Bank Stabilisation project 2011, (8) downstream of the Newry Island Sewage Treatment Works Upgrade 2013-14, and (9) capturing the End-of-System inputs of suspended sediments and nutrients from Spicketts Creek identified as a significant point-source in the Bellinger-Kalang Rivers Ecohealth Project 2009-10. 2. Study Design and Field Sampling Water quality was sampled during low flows at eight sites on the Bellinger and Kalang Rivers and their tributaries (Table 1) on 24 November 2015 (T1), 15 February 2016 (T2), 12 April 2016 (T3), and 12 July 2016 (T4), and on 23 June 2016 immediately after a flood event. Previous Microbial Source Tracking (MST) analyses from the Bellinger catchment identified a shift from Low to High Risk of Animal Bacteroides during flow events. To capture the MST response, samples were collected from end-of-system sites BELL1 and KALR1 on 23 June 2016 immediately after a flood event. MST analyses were conducted at Australian Water Quality Centre NATA accredited laboratories. Table 1. Water quality sampling sites. Site codes in brackets indicate those used in the Bellinger-Kalang Rivers Ecohealth Project 2009-10. Site Code River System Location Altitude Easting Northing (m) BELL1 Bellinger d/s of Mylestom (BR8) 0 503625 6628698 BELL4 Bellinger @ Marx Hill, Fernmount (BR4) 4 491836 6631113 BELL6 Bellinger @ 1st bridge on Darkwood Rd (BR2) 41 477971 6633700 KALR1 Kalang @ Pacific Hwy bridge (KR11) 0 501361 6626852 KALR6 Kalang @ bridge on Sunny Corner Rd (KR3) 23 487594 6627840 NNCK1 Never Never @ bridge at Arthur Keough Reserve (NN1) 20 486086 6636107 SPKC1 Spicketts @ Spicketts Creek bridge (SC1) 36 488101 6624416 ROSR1 Rosewood @ bridge on Summervilles Rd (RW1) 45 478649 6635019 5 Sampling was completed by staff from Bellingen Shire Council (BSC), North Coast Local Land Services (NC LLS), NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and the University of New England (UNE) (Appendix 3). Physical water quality variables were measured on site using a calibrated Quanta Hydrolab multiprobe. The following variables were measured at the surface (0.1m) and at every metre until 0.2m above the channel floor: Temperature (°C) Specific Conductivity (µS/cm) pH Salinity (PPT) Dissolved Oxygen (mg/L and % Saturation) Additionally, the following observations were made at each site on each sampling occasion where possible: Maximum depth (m) Secchi Depth (m) Water samples were collected from surface waters on each sampling occasion and transported to UNE for analysis at UNE’s Environmental Chemical Analysis Laboratory. Water chemistry variables analysed from filtered or unfiltered samples were: Total Nitrogen (µg/L) Total Phosphorus (µg/L) Bioavailable Nitrate-Nitrate (µg/L) Soluble Reactive Phosphorus (µg/L) Chlorophyll a (µg/L) Total Suspended Solids (mg/L) Turbidity (NTU) Nutrient data were compared with NSW MER and ANZECC guidelines for healthy aquatic ecosystems to provide trigger thresholds beyond which aquatic ecosystems may become stressed. NSW MER trigger values are available for the Bellinger-Kalang Rivers Catchment for Total Nitrogen, Total Phosphorus and chlorophyll a concentrations plus physical parameters ANZECC guidelines were used for parameter exceedances of bioavailable nitrogen
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