Australian Natural Resources Atlas

Natural Resource Topics

Rivers - Assessment of River Condition - New South Wales

Location Map

New South Wales River Assessment

Condamine-Culgoa Rivers Warrego River Paroo River Baloo River Moonie River Border Rivers Tweed River Brunswick River Richmond River Clarence River Lake Frome Lake Balcannia Bellinger River Gwyder River Macleay River Hastings River Namoi River Lower Murray-Darling River Darling River Castlereagh River Macquarie-Bogan Rivers Manning River Hunter River Karuah River Macquarie-Tuggerah Lakes Wollongong Coast Sydney Coast - Georges River Hawkesbury River Bananee Lachlan River Lake George Shoalhaven River Clyde River - Jervis Bay Moruya River Tuross River Bega River Towamba River East Gippsland Murrumbidgee River Murray-Riverina Upper Murray Snowy River

Assessment Results

New South Wales covers an area of 801,600 km2, has 1,900 km of coastline and comprises 10.4 percent of the area of Australia. It is the most populous. The climate varies with the landscape; sub-tropical along the north coast, temperate on the south coast, hot, dry summers in the north-west, and cold, sharp winters in the high country. The State can be divided into four natural regions; the fertile coastal region, the high tablelands and peaks of the Great Dividing Range, the pastoral and farming country of the Range's western slopes, and the plains that stretch westward to the South Australian border.

The biological assessment of New South Wales rivers showed that 51% of the river length assessed was in reference condition; with 13% of the river length as severely impaired signifying that 50-80 percent of the animal types have been lost. The environmental assessment found that 97% of the assessed river length was degraded; 68% moderately, and 30% substantially.

90 percent of the river length assessed had some degree of catchment disturbance, with the vast majority of rivers classified as moderately modified. The effects were attributable mainly to land use effects. Catchment disturbance caused by infrastructure (roads, rail) and land clearing were minor overall though significant in localised areas. Approximately 60% of the river length able to be assessed for hydrological disturbance showed change, with 47% of reaches moderately modified. Only 21% of the total river length in New South Wales was able to be assessed due to the lack of suitable data.

More than 70% of the river length assessed was affected by changes to the physical habitat, largely due to loss of riparian vegetation and changes to the bedload condition. Only 3% of the river length assessed had water quality that was assessed as in reference condition. Over 84% of the river length assessed had elevated loads of suspended solids, and 95% with elevated total phosphorus loads.

Comparison of the Biota Index and the Environment Index

Ideally, scores for the two main indices would be similar for each basin. In general, the Biota Index does not demonstrate the same degree of degradation as the Environment Index. Reasons for this may include:

Environment Index scores compared to Biota Index scores for all basins.

Environment Index scores compared to Biota Index scores for all basins.

Further Information

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