Estuary Pesticide Monitoring Project

Targeted pesticide concentration water quality monitoring at eight specified estuarine sites.

This Project involves Reef Catchments undertaking targeted pesticide concentration water quality monitoring at eight specified estuarine sites across the Mackay, Whitsunday, and Isaac Region (MWI Region), from the Gregory River in the north to Carmila Creek in the south. Reef Catchments has been engaged by the Mackay-Whitsunday- Isaac Healthy Rivers to Reef Partnership (HR2RP).

The eight estuarine systems sampled under this Project include:

  1. Gregory River
  2. St Helens Creek
  3. Murray Creek
  4. Vines Creek
  5. Plane Creek
  6. Rocky Dam Creek
  7. Carmila Creek
  8. Sandy Creek

The pesticide sampling is undertaken at these estuaries twice a month throughout the wet season when land based runoff is expected to be at its highest, approximately November through to May. The process of collecting these samples was via-land base in situ grab samples which were representative of the ambient pesticide conditions at the time of sampling. The samples were then analysed for a suite of 22 different pesticides detected throughout the MWI Catchments.

The two samples collected each month under this Project were coordinated alongside of the Department of Environment and Science ambient monitoring program. The Project was been developed this way in order to provide a more robust dataset for understanding the ambient pesticide concentrations in our region’s waterways.

The objective of this Estuary Sampling Project is to improve the confidence in estuary level reporting for pesticide data used by the HR2RP in formulating the Mackay, Whitsunday and Isaac Waterways Health Report Card.

The Estuary Sampling Project is delivered by Reef Catchments through funding from the Mackay-Whitsunday-Isaac Healthy Rivers to Reef Partnership.

Healthy Rivers to Reef

This project is current.

Project contacts

Emma Jones

Emma Jones

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