Rocky River

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

Rocky River is a freshwater stream on the western side of Kangaroo Island. It has a small catchment in Flinders Chase National Park which is covered almost entirely by native vegetation. The site is on the lower reaches of the catchment, approximately 40 km from the river mouth. Stream flow for this site is available from the Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation. >> Map (348KB 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. 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 May 2006

Habitat	Ecological health
Edge	Good
Riffle	Good

The river had both deep and shallow pool habitats connected by areas of flowing habitat present when sampled, and normally rates in good ecological health.

The edge community was comprised of a range of sensitive and tolerant macroinvertebrates, and was dominated by the amphipod crustacean Austrochiltonia australis, stoneflies from the family Gripopterygidae, mayflies from the family Leptophlebiidae and hydrobiid snails.

Gripopterygid stoneflies, flow dependent simuliid fly larvae, and Austrochiltonia australis dominated the riffle community.

During Autumn 2006, the AUSRIVAS model suggests that both habitats should be rated as moderate (slightly impaired) due to the absence of some common families of invertebrates from the site when sampled. This pattern has occasionally been seen at this site since monitoring began in 1994, and may simply be due to the combined effects of dense shading by surrounding eucalypt vegetation and highly coloured water that favours an unusual assemblage of species.

However, the site included several rare species that included the chironomid midge Stempellina species from the edge and the hydroptilid caddisfly Oxyethira columba from both habitats. Combined with the presence of a range of mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies and odonates, it is considerd that despite the suggested AUSRIVAS rating of the site, it is in fact in a good biological condition.

Download ecological health data

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

Water chemistry

The indicators that are measured in Rocky River 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.

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

Water chemistry classification for April to September 2006

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

Nutrient and turbidity measurements are usually at low concentrations in the Rocky River, which generally indicates good condition for ecosystem protection. The Rocky River catchment is dominated by native vegetation in the Flinders Chase National Park, so pollution sources are limited.

>> Archived results

Download water chemistry graphs

• Oxidised nitrogen in Rocky River
  
• Total nitrogen in Rocky River
  
• Total phosphorus in Rocky River
  
• Soluble phosphorus in Rocky River
  
• Turbidity in Rocky River
  
• Salinity in Rocky River

Download raw chemistry data

• All chemistry data for Rocky 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)

This page was last modified 29-07-2008