Healthy Land & Water have recently published the Annual Report Card for the Noosa River, and we are pleased that it has once again received an A- grading, making it one of the cleanest and most enjoyable waterways in SE Queensland. The report grading is based on a wide range of measurements and assessments conducted throughout each year by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science (DES). These include measurements of water quality such as turbidity, salinity, and dissolved oxygen, concentrations of polluting nutrients including nitrate and phosphate which may originate from fertiliser use, together with socio-economic factors such as usability and accessibility of the waterway and its recreational value. Eleven locations along the river are sampled eight times every year and the results are combined to arrive at a singular grading.
Water Quality Guidelines are set by DES for all waterways. In the past year averages of all tested parameters have been recorded as falling within those guidelines. This can be attributed in part to the lower annual rainfall recently, around 1300 mm p.a. compared to nearly 1700 mm in 2018 which flushed a lot of sediment into the river and caused marked increases in pollutant levels.
Noosa Integrated Catchment Association (NICA) also carries out a water testing program on behalf of Noosa Shire Council. Whereas the HLW report card can provide median data for the whole year for the river and for each test site, NICA has two additional targets. Firstly we measure more test sites particularly in or near tributary creeks, to monitor any unusual changes in the water from them entering the river, particularly in connection with heavy rainfall events when very marked discharges can be seen. This enables our second target, to provide timely information for waterway management and improvement programs. As a recent development, NICA now also collects water samples for chemical testing by Noosa Council to measure nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants in the water in efforts to discover sources and causes of algal growths which, if left unchecked, can create serious contamination of the river and beaches. In 2017 such an outbreak cost thousands of dollars to clean away from Noosa Main Beach and caused major disruption to the plans of many holidaymakers.
NICA is a volunteer organisation, involved in many environmental programs in Noosa, see our website www.noosariver.com.au. NICA always welcomes more volunteers who would like to participate in any of these activities.