Meander Catchment Contents 1. About the catchment 2. Streamflow and Water Allocation 3. Water Quality 4. River Health 1. About the catchment The Meander catchment (area ~1,600 km 2) is a land-locked sub-catchment of the South Esk Basin which drains a large part of the central east of Tasmania and discharges into the Tamar Estuary at Launceston. The Meander River is the largest river in this catchment, originating in the foothills of the Great Western Tiers (altitude 1,200 m) and flowing over 100 km to join the South Esk River at Hadspen to the east. Significant tributaries to the Meander River are Western Creek, Quamby Brook and the Liffey River, all three which collect runoff from the northern perimeter of the Tiers and Quamby Bluff, where average annual rainfall exceeds 1,600 mm and intense thunderstorms are generated. At the catchment outlet at Hadspen, local rainfall is about 700 mm per annum. Although there is some forestry occurring in the headwaters of the catchment, a large majority of the catchment is used for agricultural production ranging from cattle and sheep grazing to irrigated cropping and dairy farming. In the Liffey sub-catchment, additional water has been diverted from the Poatina Power Station tailrace at Brumbys Creek into the Liffey River near Bracknell to support agricultural activities. DEPARTMENT of PRIMARY INDUSTRIES and WATER - 1 - 2. Streamflow & Water Allocation Three streamflow monitoring 300 stations are maintained in this catchment as part of the DPIW 250 Statewide monitoring network. These are; 200 • Jackeys Creek downstream 150 Jackeys Marsh (station 18221); 100 Streamflow (Megalitres per day) per (Megalitres Streamflow • Meander River at Strathbridge 50 (station 852); and 0 • Liffey River at Carrick (station Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06 Apr-06 May-06 Jun-06 Jul-06 Aug-06 Sep-06 Oct-06 Nov-06 Dec-06 164). Date Fig: Time series of streamflow in Jackeys Creek (station 18221) during 2006. Total Water Allocation 7,000 The following table shows the breakdown of water allocations in 6,000 the catchment. 5,000 4,000 Total Allocation 3,000 Irrigation 2,000 47,366 ML perday) (MegalitresStreamflow Stock & Domestic 1,185 ML 1,000 Water Supply 611 ML 0 Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06 Apr-06 May-06 Jun-06 Jul-06 Aug-06 Sep-06 Oct-06 Nov-06 Dec-06 Other 5,028 ML Date Of the total licensed water Fig: Time series of streamflow in the Meander River at allocation within this catchment, Strathbridge (station 852) during 2006. 17,791 ML is stored within 1,200 constructed storages and 35,389 ML is extracted directly 1,000 from rivers and streams. 800 Water Use Restrictions 600 Water restriction triggers have been developed for the Meander 400 Streamflow (Megalitres perday) (MegalitresStreamflow River and Western Creek. When 200 streamflow falls to the levels indicated, water restrictions are 0 normally considered. Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06 Apr-06 May-06 Jun-06 Jul-06 Aug-06 Sep-06 Oct-06 Nov-06 Dec-06 Date Meander at 25 ML/day Fig: Time series of streamflow in the Liffey River at Strathbridge Carrick (station 164) during 2006. Western Creek 1.5 ML/day - 2 - 4 ,0 0 0 H istorical A verage C urrent Year (2006) 3 ,5 0 0 3 ,0 0 0 2 ,5 0 0 2 ,0 0 0 1 ,5 0 0 Total Discharge Total Discharge (ML) 1 ,0 0 0 5 0 0 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec M o n th Fig: Comparison of the total monthly discharge with historical average monthly discharge for Jackeys Creek (station 18221). 10 0 ,0 00 H istorical A verage 9 0 ,0 0 0 C urrent Year (2006) 8 0 ,0 0 0 7 0 ,0 0 0 6 0 ,0 0 0 5 0 ,0 0 0 4 0 ,0 0 0 Total Discharge Total Discharge (ML) 3 0 ,0 0 0 2 0 ,0 0 0 1 0 ,0 0 0 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec M o n th Fig: Comparison of the total monthly discharge with historical average monthly discharge for the Meander River at Strath Bridge (station 852). 1 8 ,0 0 0 H istorical A verage 1 6 ,0 0 0 C urrent Year (2006) 1 4 ,0 0 0 1 2 ,0 0 0 1 0 ,0 0 0 8 ,0 0 0 Total Discharge Total Discharge (ML) 6 ,0 0 0 4 ,0 0 0 2 ,0 0 0 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec M o n th Fig: Comparison of the total monthly discharge with historical average monthly discharge for the Liffey River at Carrick (station 164). - 3 - 3. Water Quality Under the DPIW Statewide baseline monitoring network, instream sensors were maintained throughout 2006 at the following locations within the catchment: • Jackeys Creek downstream Jackeys Marsh (station 18221); • Meander River at Strathbridge (station 852); and • Liffey River at Carrick (station 164). Water temperature, electrical conductivity and turbidity are monitored continuously at all three stations. 3 0 2 5 2 0 1 5 1 0 Water Temperature (Deg C) (Deg Temperature Water 5 0 2 5 0 2 0 0 S/cm) S/cm) µ µ µ µ 1 5 0 1 0 0 5 0 Electrical Conductivity ( 0 3 5 3 0 2 5 2 0 1 5 Turbidity (NTU) Turbidity 1 0 5 0 15-Jul-06 30-Jul-06 01-Apr-06 16-Apr-06 13-Oct-06 28-Oct-06 01-Jan-06 16-Jan-06 31-Jan-06 15-Jun-06 30-Jun-06 15-Feb-06 02-Mar-06 17-Mar-06 12-Nov-06 27-Nov-06 14-Aug-06 29-Aug-06 13-Sep-06 28-Sep-06 12-Dec-06 27-Dec-06 01-May-06 16-May-06 31-May-06 Fig: Continuous instream water quality for Meander River at Strathbridge (station 852) during 2006; Data quality coded as: Excellent; Good ; Fair ; or Fair Estimated Data. - 4 - 2 5 2 0 1 5 1 0 5 Water Temperature (Deg C) (Deg WaterTemperature 0 8 0 7 0 6 0 S/cm) S/cm) µ µ µ µ 5 0 4 0 3 0 2 0 Electrical Conductivity ( Conductivity Electrical 1 0 0 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 Turbidity (NTU) Turbidity 3 2 1 0 1-Apr-06 1-Jan-06 2-Mar-06 15-Jul-06 30-Jul-06 1-May-06 16-Apr-06 13-Oct-06 28-Oct-06 15-Jun-06 30-Jun-06 16-Jan-06 31-Jan-06 15-Feb-06 17-Mar-06 12-Nov-06 27-Nov-06 12-Dec-06 27-Dec-06 14-Aug-06 29-Aug-06 13-Sep-06 28-Sep-06 16-May-06 31-May-06 Fig: Continuous instream water quality for Jackeys Creek downstream Jackeys Marsh (station 18221) during 2006; Data quality coded as: Excellent; Good ; Fair ; or Fair Estimated Data. - 5 - 3 0 2 5 2 0 1 5 1 0 WaterTemperature (DegC) 5 0 1 6 0 1 4 0 S/cm) S/cm) 1 2 0 µ µ µ µ 1 0 0 8 0 6 0 4 0 Electrical Conductivity ( Electrical Conductivity 2 0 0 3 0 2 5 2 0 1 5 Turbidity(NTU) 1 0 5 0 01-Jan-06 13-Jan-06 25-Jan-06 06-Feb-06 18-Feb-06 02-Mar-06 14-Mar-06 26-Mar-06 07-Apr-06 19-Apr-06 01-May-06 13-May-06 25-May-06 06-Jun-06 18-Jun-06 30-Jun-06 12-Jul-06 24-Jul-06 05-Aug-06 17-Aug-06 29-Aug-06 10-Sep-06 22-Sep-06 04-Oct-06 16-Oct-06 28-Oct-06 09-Nov-06 21-Nov-06 03-Dec-06 15-Dec-06 27-Dec-06 Fig: Continuous instream water quality for Liffey River at Carrick (station 164) during 2006; Data quality coded as: Excellent; Good ; Fair ; or Fair Estimated Data. - 6 - Periodic water sampling is also conducted at four to six-weekly intervals at the following locations within the catchment: • Jackeys Creek downstream Jackeys Marsh (station 18221); • Meander River at Strathbridge (station 852); and • Liffey River at Carrick (station 164). Sampling consists of spot measurements of selected water quality parameters on-site (water temperature, turbidity, conductivity, pH and dissolved oxygen). Bottled samples of water are also collected for analyses of nutrients (collected monthly) and pesticides Fig: Liffey River at Carrick. (collected quarterly) at the Analytical Services Tasmania laboratory. Links 1. Water Information System of Tasmania 3. Surface water quality DPIW website www.water.dpiw.tas.gov.au/wist/ui www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/waterquality 2. Pesticide Monitoring in Tasmania 4. ANZECC 2000 guidelines www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/ www.deh.gov.au/water/quality/nwqms pesticidemonitoring /volume1.html Jackeys Creek downstream Minimum Median Maximum Number of Jackeys Marsh samples Temperature (deg C) 3.8 6 16.8 11 Turbidity (NTU) 1.81 2.38 5.19 11 Electrical Conductivity ( µµµS/cm) 42 51.5 64.10 11 Field pH 5.8 6.56 7.80 11 Dissolved Oxygen (mg/L) 8.31 10.6 12.54 11 Dissolved Oxygen (percent saturation) 83.8 97.9 109.5 11 Total Nitrogen (mg/L) 0.152 0.267 0.72 11 Total Phosphorus (mg/L) <0.005 0.008 0.02 11 Dissolved Reactive Phosphorus (mg/L) <0.002 0.003 0.006 11 Nitrate-N (mg/L) 0.015 0.16 0.354 11 Nitrite-N (mg/L) <0.002 <0.002 0.002 11 Ammonia-N (mg/L) 0.004 0.01 0.015 11 All statistics derived from periodic spot samples.