Government of Western Australia Department of Water A baseline study of contaminants in the Swan and Canning catchment drainage system Looking after all our water needs Water technicalScience series Report no. WST 3 February 2009 A baseline study of contaminants in the Swan and Canning catchment drainage system Department of Water Water Science technical series report no.3 February 2009 A baseline study of contaminants in the Swan and Canning catchment drainage system Department of Water 168 St Georges Terrace Perth Western Australia 6000 Telephone +61 8 6364 7600 Facsimile +61 8 6364 7601 www.water.wa.gov.au © Government of Western Australia 2009 February 2009 This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organisation. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Department of Water. ISSN 1836-2869 (print) ISSN 1836-2877 (online) ISBN 978-1-921549-57-1 (print) ISBN 978-1-921549-58-8 (online) Acknowledgements This project was funded by the Government of Western Australia through the Swan River Trust (SRT). The study was designed by Malcolm Robb and Michelle Grassi. This report was written by Helen Nice, George Foulsham, Bree Morgan and Sarah Evans. Editorial review and technical advice was provided by Malcolm Robb, Helen Astill and Emma van Looij. Sampling was conducted by numerous staff from the Water Science Branch. Maps were prepared by Luke Riley. Cover photograph by Tim Storer. Citation details The recommended citation for this publication is: Nice, HE, Grassi, M, Foulsham, G, Morgan, B, Evans, SJ, Robb, M 2009, A baseline study of contaminants in the Swan and Canning catchment drainage system, Water Science Technical Series report no.3, Department of Water, Western Australia. For more information about this report, contact Dr. Helen Nice, Water Science Branch, Department of Water. ii Department of Water A baseline study of contaminants in the Swan and Canning catchment drainage system Contents Summary................................................................................................................................viii Overview........................................................................................................................................... viii Priorities for further investigation...................................................................................................... viii Summary of the parameters................................................................................................................x Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ...........................................................................................................x Total petroleum hydrocarbons .................................................................................................................x Polychlorinated biphenyls ........................................................................................................................x Organochlorine pesticides .......................................................................................................................x Organophosphorus pesticides ................................................................................................................ xi Herbicides............................................................................................................................................... xi Anionic surfactants ................................................................................................................................. xi Metals ..................................................................................................................................................... xi Chromium reducible sulphur suite ......................................................................................................... xii Microbial parameters (faecal coliforms and enterococci)....................................................................... xii Major ions .............................................................................................................................................. xii Physical parameters .............................................................................................................................. xii Context of the study ......................................................................................................................... xiii 1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................1 1.1 Background to the Non-Nutrient Contaminants Program (NNCP)............................................1 Scope of the NNCP .................................................................................................................................1 1.2 Background to this baseline study ............................................................................................2 1.3 Objectives of this baseline study...............................................................................................2 1.4 Contaminant selection...............................................................................................................3 1.5 Guideline values applied...........................................................................................................3 2 Methods...............................................................................................................................6 2.1 Site selection.............................................................................................................................6 2.2 Water and sediment quality parameters ...................................................................................9 Comment on limits of reporting................................................................................................................9 2.3 Rainfall ....................................................................................................................................15 2.4 Frequency of sampling............................................................................................................17 2.5 Quality control .........................................................................................................................17 2.6 Data analysis...........................................................................................................................17 3 Results...............................................................................................................................18 3.1 Rainfall ....................................................................................................................................18 3.2 Physical data...........................................................................................................................24 Total suspended solids ..........................................................................................................................25 Temperature ..........................................................................................................................................26 pH in surface water................................................................................................................................27 Electrical conductivity in surface water ..................................................................................................28 Dissolved oxygen in surface water ........................................................................................................29 Biological oxygen demand in surface water...........................................................................................30 3.3 Microbial water quality.............................................................................................................31 Swan River – faecal coliforms ...............................................................................................................32 Swan River – enterococci ......................................................................................................................33 Canning River – faecal coliforms ...........................................................................................................34 Canning River – enterococci..................................................................................................................35 3.4 Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)..............................................................................36 PAHs in sediments versus surface water ..............................................................................................37 PAHs in sediments ................................................................................................................................38 Department of Water iii A baseline study of contaminants in the Swan and Canning catchment drainage system 3.5 Petroleum hydrocarbons.........................................................................................................42 TPHs in sediments versus surface water...............................................................................................43 TPH concentrations in sediments