Site 3 - Outer Harbor

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Introduction

The Port waterways (Port River and Barker Inlet Estuary) support a highly productive and biologically diverse aquatic ecosystem. The waterways have economic value as a nursery for commercial fish species such as King George whiting. Other human uses of the estuary, such as recreation, transport and industry, bring economic benefit to the state but may also threaten the health of the estuary. Monitoring Site No. 3 is in the middle of the channel near the Outer Harbor Container terminal. >> More on the Port waterways

Water quality assessment

Water quality in the Port waterways Site No. 3 is assessed as being in good, moderate or poor condition by interpreting water chemistry and algal data. >> More

Water quality classification for April to September 2006

Indicator	Ecosystem	Recreation	Aquaculture
Ammonia	Poor	NA	Good
Oxidised Nitrogen	Good	NA	NA
Total Nitrogen	Good	NA	NA
Soluble Phosphorus	Good	NA	NA
Total Phosphorus	Good	NA	NA
Turbidity	Moderate	Moderate	NA
Chlorophyll a	Poor	NA	NA
Heavy Metals	Poor	NA	Good
Bacteria	NA	Good	Good

Notes NA = not applicable
Notes NA = no data available this period

The water quality monitoring results for this period were generally consistent with, or lower than previous seasonal results for this site.

Ammonia, heavy metals, and chlorophyll (a) were classified as poor at Site 3. Turbidity was also elevated.

High ammonia and chlorophyll results are probably due to industrial discharges into the river (such as those from Penrice Soda Products and Bolivar Wastewater Treatment Plant), historical contamination from the now closed Port Adelaide WWTP and the large number of stormwater drains that discharge into the Port waterways. Recent ammonia and oxidised nitrogen concentrations may be lower than historical results, although this will need to be monitored longer-term to confirm a trend.

Heavy metals were classified as poor (copper and zinc), which are most likely due to urban runoff containing heavy metals washing off roads and galvanised iron roofs into the marine environments during rain events. In July 2006, a new analytical method for heavy metals was introduced, which can detect metals at much lower concentrations than before. It is now possible to compare concentrations to National Water Quality Guidelines confidently.

Elevated turbidity results were possibly due to dredging undertaken over the summer in the Port River channel to enable passage of large ships. The turbidity level tended to decrease during the period April to September. It is anticipated that the turbidity will stabilise to levels observed prior to the dredging as the main dredging was completed in March 2006.

>> Archived results

Download water quality graphs

• Ammonia at Site 3
  
• Oxidised Nitrogen at Site 3
  
• Total Nitrogen at Site 3
  
• Total Phosphorus at Site 3
• Soluble Phosphorus
  
• Turbidity at Site 3
  
• Chlorophyll a at Site 3
  
• Cadmium at Site 3
  
• Copper at Site 3
  
• Mercury at Site 3
  
• Lead at Site 3
  
• Nickel at Site 3
  
• Zinc at Site 3
  
• Enterococci at Site 3

Download water quality data

• Water Quality at Site 3

What is being done to improve the condition of the Port waterways?

A Water Quality Improvement Plan for the Port River Waterways is being developed, which aims to dramatically reduce pollutant concentrations and hence improve the condition of these waters. Several reports can be downloaded:

Port Waterways Water Quality Improvement Plan-Stage 1 (4.3MB PDF)
Port Waterways - A tradeable rights instrument to reduce nutrient pollution in the (238KB PDF)
Port Waterways - Setting environmental values for the (431KB PDF)
Port Waterways - Nutrient flux assessment in the (569KB PDF)

Reports

Port River Water Quality Report No. 1 (1997) (304KB PDF)
Port River Water Quality Report No. 2 (2002) (2.7MB PDF)
Port River Sediment Quality Report (1997) (961KB PDF)
Port River: heavy metals and PCBs in dolphins, fish and sediment (2000) (462KB PDF)

Links

City of Port Adelaide Enfield
City of Salisbury
Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board
Marine Discovery Centre
Barker Inlet Port Estuary Committee (BIPEC)

This page was last modified 25-09-2007