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• • River condition
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Rivers - Nutrient Loads and Transport - Queensland

Specify a region: -- select region -- Archer River Baffle Creek Barron River Black River Border Rivers Boyne River Brisbane River Bulloo River Burdekin River Burnett River Burrum River Calliope River Coleman River Condamine-Culgoa Rivers Coopers Creek Curtis Island Daintree River Diamantina River Don River Ducie River Embley River Endeavour River Fitzroy River (Qld) Flinders River Fraser Island Georgina River Gilbert River Haughton River Hay River Herbert River Hinchinbrook Island Holroyd River Jacky Jacky Creek Jardine River Jeannie River Johnstone River Kolan River Lake Frome Leichhardt River Lockhart River Logan-Albert River Maroochy River Mary River (Qld) Mitchell River (Qld) Moonie River Morning Inlet Mornington Island Mossman River Mulgrave-Russell River Murray River (Qld) Nicholson River Noosa River Norman River Normanby River O'Connell River Olive / Pascoe Rivers Paroo River Pine River Pioneer River Plane Creek Proserpine River Ross River Settlement Creek Shoalwater Creek South Coast Staaten River Stewart River Stradbroke Island Styx River Torres Strait Islands Tully River Warrego River Water Park Creek Watson River Wenlock River Whitsunday Island

Queensland

Rivers - nutrient loads and transport

Increases in river nutrient loads generally lead to increases in the production of algae and aquatic plants, with follow-on effects up the aquatic food chain. Large nutrient increases typically favour a small number of species at the expense of others, and so while overall system productivity is increased, biodiversity is reduced. The reduced diversity of species is often associated with reduced system resilience, and catastrophic collapses are common. Such collapses may include the death and decay of large algal blooms, thereby increasing biological oxygen demand, lowering dissolved oxygen levels and leading to massive fish kills and high mortality amongst other river fauna (see Australian Catchment, River and Estuary Assessment 2001 for the Audit river and estuary assessment).

River nutrient budgets for phosphorus and nitrogen allow determination of:

• major sources of nutrients to rivers;
• major loss pathways for nutrients transported through river systems; and
• major loss pathways for nutrients transported through river systems; and

They are linked to landscape nutrient budgets, because erosion and surface run-off are important pathways for nutrient loss from the landscape. An understanding of the fate of nutrient lost from landscapes and ecological responses to nutrient loads in the receiving waters, can help guide land and water planning and management.

Use of a modelling approach, combines outputs from erosion and river sediment transport modelling, with landscape? plant? soil? atmosphere? nutrient flux modelling and point source discharge data. River nutrient transport modelling considers dissolved nutrients that are associated with suspended sediments. Exchanges between these forms are modelled for phosphorus. Losses from transport include:

• fine sediment deposited in reservoirs and on floodplains; and
• denitrification of dissolved nitrogen to nitrogen gas.

Rivers nutrient loads and transport assessment

Agricultural and urban disturbance within a catchment leads to increases in nutrient exported to the river systems. These increased nutrient loads affect river ecosystems, usually in undesirable ways. Assessing changes in nutrient loadings is therefore an important aspect for assessing river condition, and one that highlights the linkages between a river and its catchment.

Assessing river nutrient load is complex, either using measured data or by modelling, because of the complex processes involved in nutrient sourcing and transport, and the high temporal variability of river flow. Process modelling is usually carried out in conjunction with detailed daily hydrology modelling. However, this is not required for broad-scale assessments of changes, and in any case sufficient data are often not available.

A model of river nutrient transport (Annual Network Nutrient Export or ANNEX?see next section) was developed to predict current and pre-disturbance nutrient loads in Australian rivers

Annual Network Nutrient Export (ANNEX)

Sums nutrient sources delivered to each link of a river network, and accumulates the consequent loads to determine average annual exports.

Combines soil nutrient concentrations from Australian Soil Resources Information System with estimates of average annual sediment loads from SEDNET modelling to estimate the average annual nutrient loads to rivers associated with water erosion.

Combines estimates of average annual nutrient loads for surface run-off from BIOS modelling with point source data from the National Pollutant Inventory (www.environment.gov.au/epg/npi/database/database.html) to estimate the average annual loads of dissolved nutrient to rivers.

Annual Network Nutrient Export considers the following nutrient source terms at each network link:

sediment-attached nutrients from hillslope erosion (from SEDNET)

sediment-attached nutrients from gully erosion (from SEDNET)

sediment-attached nutrients from river channel bank erosion (from SEDNET)

dissolved nutrients in surface run-off and sub-surface drainage (from BIOS)

point source nutrient discharges (from National Pollutant Inventory database)

Nutrients are transported in both dissolved and sediment-attached forms. The model assumes that the:

sediment-attached nutrient load is associated with the clay fraction of the sediment being transported entirely in suspension; and

capacity for transport of nutrients both in dissolved forms and associated with suspended sediments is unlimited.

Rivers nutrients in Queensland

River basin name	Total nitrogen exported (t/yr)	Total Phosphorus exported (t/yr)	Nitrogen delivered to estuaries (%)	Phosphorus delivered to estuaries (%)
Archer River	3,247	555	No Data	No Data
Baffle Creek	7,334	1,067	69	61
Barron River	8,574	1,385	70	68
Black River	7,622	1,436	75	72
Border Rivers	8,503	1,183	33	17
Boyne River	7,481	1,016	47	34
Brisbane River	8,868	1,309	52	56
Bulloo River	1,418	245	No Data	No Data
Burdekin River	3,489	525	24	19
Burnett River	6,170	898	28	22
Burrum River	5,666	949	69	58
Calliope River	6,647	908	55	52
Coleman River	2,057	354	No Data	No Data
Condamine-Culgoa Rivers	4,486	657	26	5
Coopers Creek	1,388	217	No Data	No Data
Curtis Island	6,494	871	No Data	No Data
Daintree River	14,070	2,293	95	96
Diamantina River	522	100	No Data	No Data
Don River	4,129	614	60	59
Ducie River	3,243	610	No Data	No Data
Embley River	2,945	496	No Data	No Data
Endeavour River	7,427	1,227	83	83
Fitzroy River (Qld)	5,276	750	22	18
Flinders River	1,581	244	No Data	No Data
Fraser Island	6,759	1,277	No Data	No Data
Georgina River	695	125	No Data	No Data
Gilbert River	2,187	336	No Data	No Data
Haughton River	4,838	763	29	25
Hay River	497	90	No Data	No Data
Herbert River	6,742	1,166	71	68
Hinchinbrook Island	13,290	2,701	No Data	No Data
Holroyd River	2,506	437	No Data	No Data
Jacky Jacky Creek	3,799	741	84	84
Jardine River	4,173	834	No Data	No Data
Jeannie River	3,806	671	76	75
Johnstone River	21,210	3,180	96	96
Kolan River	6,639	953	48	41
Lake Frome	665	106	No Data	No Data
Leichhardt River	1,320	210	No Data	No Data
Lockhart River	8,407	1,281	91	86
Logan-Albert River	12,610	1,702	59	56
Maroochy River	9,164	1,577	84	84
Mary River (Qld)	9,426	1,472	68	62
Mitchell River (WA)	2,086	353	No Data	No Data
Moonie River	4,778	714	45	15
Morning Inlet	1,542	223	No Data	No Data
Mornington Island	2,051	333	No Data	No Data
Mossman River	11,210	1,945	90	89
Mulgrave-Russell River	17,360	2,782	94	95
Murray River (Qld)	12,950	2,283	93	92
Nicholson River	1,114	194	No Data	No Data
Noosa River	7,070	1,348	91	85
Norman River	1,305	240	No Data	No Data
Normanby River	2,688	489	54	51
O'Connell River	10,070	1,494	82	83
Olive / Pascoe Rivers	4,503	844	81	81
Paroo River	2,026	335	0	0
Pine River	9,449	1,462	63	56
Pioneer River	9,104	1,637	80	83
Plane Creek	7,845	1,127	83	79
Proserpine River	7,920	1,149	71	69
Ross River	4,104	661	37	28
Settlement Creek	1,685	276	No Data	No Data
Shoalwater Creek	5,279	796	64	53
South Coast	14,660	2,029	91	87
Staaten River	1,444	234	No Data	No Data
Stewart River	4,217	653	69	61
Stradbroke Island	3,978	776	No Data	No Data
Styx River	5,156	751	53	47
Torres Strait Islands	1,777	329	No Data	No Data
Tully River	14,880	2,505	94	94
Warrego River	3,377	499	16	3
Water Park Creek	6,248	1,002	91	88
Watson River	3,085	514	No Data	No Data
Wenlock River	3,420	620	No Data	No Data
Whitsunday Island	10,250	1,414	No Data	No Data

Click on the river basin name or map below to view a report on the nutrient - sediment - landscape budget terms.

Further Information

• View the Australian Agriculture Assessment 2001 report.
• View the river nutrient loads and transport chapter of the Australian Agriculture Assessment 2001 (theme) report.
• Technical reports have been prepared by CSIRO division of Land and Water in the development of this work on river nutrient loads and transport:
• View or download a technical report on " Modelling nutrient loads in large-scale river networks " by W.J. Young, I.P. Prosser, and A.O. Hughes (PDF 0.6 MB)
• a technical report on the " Regionalisations of flow variables used in modelling riverine material transport " by W.J. Young, P. Rustomji, A. O. Hughes, D. Wilkins (PDF 896 KB)
• Link to the Map Maker to make a map using this information.
• Link to the Australian Natural Resources Data Library