Hill River

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Introduction

The Hill River is a brackish stream that flows through the Clare wine district into the Broughton River. The monitoring site is about 12 km from the river's source and the catchment area upstream is about 35 km2. As with the Broughton River, the Hill River is often dry due to low rainfall, although the monitoring site at Andrews is a permanent waterhole surrounded by reed beds. Riparian vegetation is predominantly exotic grasses and planted eucalypts. Land uses in the catchment are vineyards, grazing and cropping. Elevated turbidity and nutrient levels are the most likely water quality problems.

Stream flow data for this site is available from the Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation. >> Map (2MB 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 for this purpose because they provide a 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 indicate 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 June 2006

Habitat	Ecological health
Edge	Good
Riffle	Habitat not present

The ecological health of this site is usually rated good. This stream generally consists of disconnected pools in a largely cleared catchment used for grazing stock. Very little stream flows were recorded at this site during 2006, leading to a lack of sufficient riffle habitat for sampling.

Although the edge habitat was rated in good condition for autumn 2006, many species typically found at this site were not collected on this occasion. Those that were collected are very hardy species and can be found in most waterbodies. There were some macroinvertebrates collected in the edge sample that are more likely to be found in riffle habitats, including blackfly larvae Simulium ornatipes and dytiscid beetles Platynectes decempunctatus. This suggests that although there wasn't enough riffle habitat to sample, there was still enough flowing water (probably due to groundwater inflows) to attract these taxa.

Download ecological health data

• Macroinvertebrate summary for the Hill River
• All the macroinvertebrate data for the Hill River

Water chemistry

The indicators that are measured in the Hill River are nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), turbidity and salinity. 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.

Go here to find out how we organise and classify the chemistry data.

Water chemistry classification for October 2005 - March 2006

Indicator	Classification
Oxidised Nitrogen	Good
Total Nitrogen	Poor
Soluble Phosphorus	Good
Total Phosphorus	Poor
Turbidity	Good

The total nitrogen and total phosphorus levels can become elevated as a result of fertilisers or animal wastes being washed off farms during storms. This section of the Hill River has been significantly impacted by grazing animals having direct access, causing erosion and adding nutrients. The soluble nutrients (soluble phosphorus and oxidised nitrogen) levels are kept quite low because they tend to be absorbed by the abundant algal growth.

The Northern and Yorke NRM Board are implementing recommendations in the Broughton River Management Plan (refer to the Department of Water, land and Biodiversity Conservation) to improve water quality in the Hill River. These include initiatives such as restricting stock access, revegetating creek lines, erecting and improving contour banks and prevent erosion.

>> Archived results

Download water chemistry graphs

• Oxidised nitrogen in the Hill River
  
• Total nitrogen in the Hill River
  
• Total phosphorus in the Hill River
  
• Soluble phosphorus in the Hill River
  
• Turbidity in the Hill River
  
• Salinity in the Hill River

Download raw chemistry data

• All chemistry data for the Hill River

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