River Murray at Morgan

Water quality links:

Home

What is water quality?

Direct to data

Monitoring program & assessments

Major threats & issues

Legislation & programs

Other resources & initiatives

Publications

Glossary

Introduction

Morgan is about 320 km upstream of the Murray Mouth and downstream of major irrigation developments. Apart from supplying the town itself, water extracted from the River Murray is treated and piped to Port Pirie, Port Augusta and Whyalla.

The River Murray Operations Unit, (RMOU) part of the Bulk Water Division of SA Water Corporation collects daily salinity and flow data. >> More

The South Australian Murray Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board also has a large amount of useful information on the River Murray in South Australia.

>> More information on the River Murray in South Australia.
>> More information on the Murray-Darling Basin as a whole.

Water quality assessment

Water quality data at Morgan are collected weekly by the Murray Darling Basin Commission (MDBC). The indicators that are measured in the River Murray at Morgan are nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), turbidity and salinity. The concentrations of these indicators are used to classify the water quality as being in good, moderate or poor condition, according to the needs of aquatic ecosystem protection and recreational environmental values. >> More

Water quality classification for April to September 2006

Indicator	Ecosystem	Recreational
Oxidised Nitrogen	Good	NA
Total Nitrogen	Good	NA
Soluble Phosphorus	Good	NA
Total Phosphorus	Good	NA
Turbidity	Good	Poor
Bacteria	NA	ND

Notes NA = not applicable; ND = No data available for this period

Results for this period were generally consistent with previous results.

Turbidity was considered good for the protection of the Murray River ecosystem, although it was poor for recreational activity. Elevated turbidity can make it difficult to see submerged obstacles, reducing the safety of some recreational activities. It also makes water look less appealing for swimming. Much of the turbidity in the River Murray is due to water sourced from the Darling River, which tends to carry fine clay particles.

Disease-causing bacteria can be an issue for recreational activities in the Lower Murray due to discharges from houseboats, wastewater treatment plant discharges and livestock near the river. As such, bacteria (enterococci) will be reported on this page in the near future. The South Australian Department of Health has useful information on the safe use of recreational waters.

>> Archived results

Download water chemistry graphs (courtesy of the MDBC)

• Oxidised nitrogen in the River Murray at Morgan
  
• Total nitrogen in the River Murray at Morgan
  
• Total phosphorus in the River Murray at Morgan
  
• Soluble phosphorus in the River Murray at Morgan
  
• Turbidity in the River Murray at Morgan
  
• Salinity in the River Murray at Morgan

Download raw chemistry data (courtesy of the MDBC)

• All chemistry data for the River Murray at Morgan

What is being done to improve the condition of the River Murray

The River Murray is South Australia's most important river system. The South Australian Government is improving the condition of the Murray through the Living Murray Initiative. This initiative aims to return 500 gigalitres of water over five years to the river system. The recovered water will be used to improve the ecological health of six significant ecological assets across the Basin. Three of these are the Chowilla Floodplain; the Murray Mouth, Coorong and Lower Lakes; and the River Murray channel. Funds raised by the levy will be used to support other Murray-Darling Basin Commission programs to accelerate the recovery of the river.

The EPA has a regional office at Murray Bridge. Significant projects being run by the Murraylands office are

• audits of milking shed effluent systems
  
• water quality monitoring programs
  
• a major water quality risk assessment >> More
  
• river vessel wastewater system audits
  
• marina and slipway audits.

South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board is also developing strategies for improving water quality in the River Murray. >> More

Reports

River Murray and Lower Lakes catchment risk assessment for water quality
	Introduction and methods (960KB PDF)
	Results and management options
		Acknowledgements, Definitions, Abbreviations, Executive Summary & Introduction (327KB PDF)
		Renmark to border LAP area assessment (400KB PDF)
		Berri–Barmera and Loxton–Bookpurnong LAP areas assessment (450KB PDF)
		Riverland West LAP area assessment (526KB PDF)
		Mid Murray LAP area assessment (577KB PDF)
		Mannum to Wellington LAP area assessment (580KB PDF)
		Goolwa to Wellington and Coorong District LAP areas assessment (1329KB PDF)
		Summary of risk assessment results, Risk management options & References and data sources (212KB PDF)
River Murray 1990-1999 Report No. 1 (Jan 2002) (1.5MB PDF)
Ambient Water Quality Monitoring of The River Murray 1990-1999 (1.5MB PDF)
Cowirra Surface Irrigation Reuse Trial (1.3MB PDF)
Riverboat Waste Disposal Options (616KB PDF)

This page was last modified 14-10-2008