Australian Natural Resources Atlas

Natural Resource Topics

Rivers - Assessment of River Condition - Queensland

Location Map

Queensland River Assessment

Settlement Creek Mornington Island Nicholson River Georgina River Hay River Leichardt River Morning Inlet Flinders River Diamantina River Coopers Creek Bulloo River Paroo River Warrego River Condamine-Culgoa Rivers Moonie River Border Rivers Dulcie River Wenlock River Embley River Watson River Archer River Holroyd River Coleman River Mitchell River Staaten river Gilbert River Norman River Normanby River Burdekin River Fitzroy River Burnett River Logan-Albert Rivers Brisbane River Torres Strait Islands Jardine River Olive-Pascoe Rivers Stewart River Jeannie River Daintree River Herbert River Barron River Tully River Haughton River Shoalwater Creek Boyne River Mary River Proserpine River Pioneer River

Assessment Results

Queensland covers an area of 1,727,200 km2, has a coastline of 7,400 km, and comprises 22.48 percent of the total area of Australia. It is Australia's second largest state. The climate of the state ranges from monsoonal downpours in the north, to tropical in the south-east, to hot and dry in the west and south-west. The Great Barrier Reef lies off the eastern coast of Queensland and is over 1,200 km in length, stretching from the West Papuan coast to east of Gladstone. The State has 330 national parks covering more than 27,000 km2.

The biological assessment of Queensland rivers showed that 80% of the river length assessed was in reference condition; most of the rest in significantly impaired condition, signifying that 20-50 percent of the animal types have been lost. The environmental assessment found that 87% of the assessed river length was in modified condition; 71% moderately modified and 17% substantially modified. Disturbance to the catchment from land use, changes to the hydrological regime and poor water quality were identified as the main contributing factors.

Over 90 percent of the river length assessed had some degree of catchment disturbance, with the vast majority of rivers classified as in fair condition. The effects were attributable mainly to land use effects. 10% of the river length able to be assessed for hydrological disturbance showed change. Over 7% of the river length assessed was substantially modified, principally affected by changes to the mean annual flow, duration of flow, and the seasonal amplitude of flows. Unfortunately only 26% of the total river length in Queensland was able to be assessed due to the lack of suitable data.

More than 30% 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 5% of the river length assessed had water quality that was largely unmodified. Suspended solids loads were elevated in 82% of river length assessed, total phosphorus in 95% and total nitrogen in 64%.

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

Key

   Links to an another web site
   Opens a pop-up window