Yardaparinna Creek |
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Water quality links: Monitoring program & assessments << back to Arid Region |
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| Habitat |
Ecological health
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| Edge |
Good
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| Riffle |
Habitat not present
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This site is often rated as being in good to moderate condition. As this site is at a non-flowing waterhole in the Far North of the State there is no riffle habitat available.
In autumn 2006, the edge habitat had a diverse community of 44 different types of macroinvertebrates. The most common species were waterbugs (Micronecta species), mayflies (Tasmanocoenis species) and non-biting midges (Procladius and Cladotanytarsus species). The site had many different types of beetles, non-biting midges, caddisflies. Freshwater limpets (Ferrissia species), freshwater prawns (Macrobrachium species) and yabbies (Cherax destructor) were also present. The only species absent for the site that commonly occurs in arid streams was the amphipod Austrochiltonia australis.
The site was in a good ecological condition, equivalent to other best condition reference site in the State, in May 2006. The salinity of the waterhole was very fresh at about 200 mg/L. As is typical for many arid zone waterholes, the water was very turbid and had elevated nutrients. Despite these natural water quality characteristics, the waterhole provided a diverse and well represented community of macroinvertebrate species.
Download ecological health data
Water chemistry
The indicators that are measured in Yardaparinna 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.
Go here to find out how we organise and classify the chemistry data.
Water chemistry classification for April to September 2006
The water quality monitoring of this period were generally consistent with previous seasonal results for this site, with high total nutrient concentrations and high turbidity.
The oxidised nitrogen and soluble phosphorus concentrations were low, suggesting that the high total nitrogen and total phosphorus levels were associated with suspended particles or algae, which is relatively normal for creeks in the far north of the state. The turbidity was elevated, which may have been due to clay particles and/or algae suspended in the water.
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 and/or phytoplankton. 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 particles.
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.
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
This page was last modified 25-09-2007
