Water Quality Monitoring Programs g EPA Murraylands Team Lake - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

South Australia’s Environment Protection Authority Water Quality Monitoring Programs g EPA Murraylands Team

Lake Albert - Salinity 25000 Meningie Water Level Recorder 20000 Lake Albert: Opening 15000 SPC (uS/cm) 10000 5000 0

Salinity Transect – 2011

Salinity Transect – 2015

Salinity Transect – 2015

Groundwater Monitoring

Groundwater Monitoring 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 pH pH 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 Currency Creek Campbell Park 0 0 9 8 7 6 5 pH 4 3 2 1 Point Sturt 0

Groundwater Monitoring 1200 1400 Currency Creek Campbell Park 1200 1000 1000 800 800 Acidity (mg/L) Acidity (mg/L) 600 600 400 400 200 200 0 0 1600 Point Sturt 1400 1200 1000 Acidity (mg/L) 800 600 400 200 0

Currency & Finniss River 30000 25000 20000 SPC (uS/cm) 15000 10000 5000 0

Boggy & Hunters Creeks 60000 50000 40000 SPC (uS/cm) 30000 20000 10000 0

Coorong 140000 120000 100000 80000 SPC (US/CM) 60000 40000 20000 0

Thankyou • Our data is freely available online (www.epa.sa.gov.au) • Reports and Papers published • Ben Hamilton Work Phone (08) 8204 2021 benjamin.hamilton@epa.sa.gov.au

Lake Alexandrina

Zooplankton Zooplankton • Zooplankton form a critical step in the food chain, often acting as an indicator for environmental conditions and water quality. As part of a service provision to DEWNR, the EPA collects zooplankton samples which are sorted by Russ Shiel at Adelaide University.

Benthic Chambers Benthic Chambers • Despite neutral pH and alkalinity, persistent levels of acidity are recorded during monitoring at some sites in the CLLMM region (e.g. Boggy and Hunters Creek) • Acid-sulfate soils were exposed during the drought. Upon rewetting, surface water provides a pathway for acidity and dissolved metals to enter surface water. • Installation of “benthic chambers” provided a unique insight into how sediment and overlying surface waters interact, allowing us to measure acidity fluxes directly, and use results to predict interactions under future climate scenarios • Results showed that no chamber went acidic (pH<6.5) but fluxes of acidity (predominantly soluble metals such as Fe) were present but this was counteracted by a greater flux of alkalinity (due to sulfate reduction) • Suggests that these “hotspots” may not acidify under lower flow conditions

Benthic chambers are pictured below. Supplied with electricity via solar power, the chamber stirs constantly. Samples were taken by hand every fortnight for six weeks.