Photo: Australian
Water Quality Centre |
Introduction
Cooper Creek is one of the major rivers of the Lake Eyre Basin.
It is a very large freshwater system, originating in Queensland.
Cooper Creek is influenced by tropical rains in the upper part
of its catchment and its flow is extremely variable. The major
land use in the Cooper catchment is cattle grazing, although it
is used to irrigate cotton in Queensland. Elevated turbidity and
nutrient levels are the most likely problems to occur. The monitoring
site at Cullyamurra Waterhole is about 1250 km from the creek's
source and the catchment area upstream is around 230,000 km².
The monitoring site is dominated by native vegetation, with sedges,
lignum and eucalypts on the banks. Stream
flows for this site are available from the Department
of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation. >>
Map (657KB PDF)
Water quality assessment
Water quality is assessed as being in good, moderate or poor
condition by interpreting water chemistry data in the context
of protecting environmental values. >>
More
Ecological health is assessed in spring and autumn. We use macroinvertebrates
because they are relatively simple way to assess the health of
an aquatic ecosystem. >> More
Water chemistry is measured each month (or every 3 months in
remote locations). We measure chemical indicators because, when
they reach a certain level, they can cause stress or toxicity
to animals and plants in an ecosystem. Some indicators can also
show if the water is suitable for drinking water or for activities
such as swimming. >> More
Ecological health
We collect two samples of macroinvertebrates, one from riffle
(or flowing water) habitat and one from edge (still water) habitat.
The diversity of the macroinvertebrate community is used to describe
ecological health as being in good,
moderate or poor
condition.
Go
here to find out how we classify ecological health in streams.
Ecological health assessment for May 2006
| Habitat |
Ecological health
|
| Edge |
Moderate
|
| Riffle |
Outside the experience of the models
|
When compared with other streams in the Far North of the State,
the edge habitat was considered to be in a slightly impaired condition
and the riffle habitat consisted of an unusual community of species
that was unable to be assessed by the existing State models.
The edge habitat had low numbers of 27 different types of macroinvertebrates
present. Two types of flies (non-biting midge Chironomus
species and Ephydridae larvae) were the most common species in
a community that generally lacked beetles, waterbugs and caddisflies.
The riffle habitat had only 14 different macroinvertebrates, also
in low numbers, dominated by mayflies (Tasmanocoenis arcuata)
and another species of non-biting midge (Parachironomus).
The most unusual macroinvertebrate collected was a worm from
the family Naididae (Prinstina longiseta), and other rare
collections for the State include the Caenidae mayfly Wundacaenis
species and Viviparidae snail Centropala species.
Download ecological health data
Water chemistry
The indicators that are measured in Cooper Creek are nutrients
(nitrogen and phosphorus), turbidity and salinity.
The concentrations of these indicators are used to classify the
water chemistry as being in good,
moderate or poor
condition, according to the needs of aquatic ecosystem protection.
This site is sampled every three months because of its remote
location.
Go here
to find out how we organise and classify the chemistry data.
Water chemistry classification for April to September 2006
|
Indicator
|
|
|
|
Good
|
|
|
Moderate
|
|
|
Poor
|
|
|
Poor
|
|
|
Poor
|
The poor nutrient and turbidity results for this sampling period
are consistent with previous results. Livestock and feral animals
are a possible cause of the elevated concentrations of nitrogen
and phosphorus at this site.
The turbidity in several river systems in the state's far north
is naturally quite high due to the suspension of very small clay
particles. The total nitrogen and total phosphorus levels are
expected to be high when the turbidity is high because these nutrients
are often bound to suspended sediment. The soluble phosphorus
level would normally be low in creeks where land use is low density
grazing, such as in most of the Cooper catchment. Further investigation
is required to provide a more complete understanding of water
quality in the Cooper Creek.
The water chemistry classifications have been determined by comparing
concentrations with Australian guideline values for ecosystem
protection. These guideline values are possibly not appropriate
for this region of South Australia and the current classifications
should be interpreted with caution. Further investigation is required
to establish more appropriate guidelines.
>> Archived results
Download water chemistry graphs
Download raw chemistry data
What is being done to improve the condition
of South Australian rivers and streams
Efforts to improve the condition of South Australia's rivers
and streams are being driven by various government agencies, primarily
The Environment Protection Authority
The Department
of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation
Natural
Resource Management Boards
Department
for Environment and Heritage (SA)
Collaborative projects and programs being run by these agencies
are based on the protection of environmental values, as explained
in the National
Water Quality Management Strategy. >>
More
Reports
SA's Rivers and Streams
(Chemical and Physical Quality)-Report No 1 (554KB
PDF)
This page was last modified 25-09-2007
|
