Zshkeen Kerr (left) and Norman Johnson.

TropWATER’s Zoe Bainbridge and NQ Dry Tropics Land Management Support Coordinator Rodger Walker.

Community gets results of water quality monitoring

The LDC Community Water Quality Monitoring Group is learning more about how, when and where sediment moves throughout a range of flow events. The group met in September to review water sampling results from the 2020-2021 wet season at an event held at Urannah Station.

For the past three years, landholders around Bowen and Collinsville have collected water samples during the wet season at nine sites across Burdekin tributaries and major sub-catchments, as part of the LDC project.

The data is supporting the project with information on how best to tackle gully remediation, and keep soil on the land through improved management practices, to enhance water quality.

In September, James Cook University’s TropWATER research scientists Zoe Bainbridge and Steve Lewis briefed members of the project’s Community Water Quality Monitoring Group on the results of their wet season water sampling.

They delivered the results after a less-than-average wet season at an informal gathering hosted by the Urannah Property Association on Urannah Station.

Zoe said the group’s role as water quality monitors meant they had a direct hand in building a more informed picture of sediment carried in the waterways.

The data collected by the monitoring group is used by the Queensland Government’s Paddock to Reef (P2R) program to improve modelling and help inform future investment in the region.

The 2020-2021 Wet Season Update of the LDC Water Quality Sampling results has been published and, along with the results from previous years, is available here.

TropWATER has developed a conceptual map of Burdekin fine sediment sources, transport and export based on current scientific understanding. It’s a handy reference that you can read here. 

Basin contributions to end-of-river sediment loads have been determined using the Burdekin Source Catchments model (Paddock To Reef Program (P2R) program) and TropWATER’s research conducted at catchment scale.