River Health in the New South Wales Lower North Coast, Hunter and Central Coast Catchments

A report of AusRivAS assessments 1994 - 1999
Grant Hose and Eren Turak
Environment Protection Agency, 2004
ISBN 0 642 55099 9 ISSN 1447-1280

Hunt510 - Pages River at Blandford

Site Condition Summary
Sampling Data and Assessments
Site report cards

Site Condition Summary

This site was at the top end of the Hunter catchment. Immediately upstream, the landuse was primarily horse studs and grazing, with most native riparian vegetation cleared or replaced by exotic species. The stream was very open in places, with little shading.

Visual assessments of instream habitat suggested it had been degraded by vehicle and cattle access and rubbish. Dissolved oxygen concentrations were above saturation during both visits. This may have been due to the volume of filamentous algae at the site which was estimated to cover 60 % of the stream reach. The water appeared to have a greenish-blue tinge, with foam present and a mild odour.

Macroinvertebrate communities in the edge habitats were rich and returned high O/E-Taxa values for all single and combined season models. Samples from the riffle habitat showed great difference between the seasons. In Autumn 1997, the O/E-Taxa value was 0.49 (band C) and 0.93 (band A) in Spring that year. The lower Autumn assessment may have been due to several predicted Diptera (true flies) families not being collected. The combined riffle model gave an intermediate 0.81 (band B) assessment.

Location Map

Location Details
Map Name	Murrurundi 9034-2-N
Map Zone	56
Map Scale	1:25000
Easting	300900
Northing	6481000
Distance from source (m)	18981
Elevation (m asl)	400
Average Annual Rainfall (mm)	850

Single Season Assessments

Edge
	Autumn '97	Spring '97
	15-Apr-97	21-Oct-97
O/E Taxa	0.87	1.00
Band	A	A
O/E SIGNAL	1.00	0.93

Riffle
	Autumn '97	Spring '97
	15-Apr-97	21-Oct-97
O/E Taxa	0.49	0.93
Band	C	A
O/E SIGNAL	1.20	0.93

Combined Season Assessments

Edge
Seasons	AUT97SPR97
Model	Eastern
O/E Taxa	0.87
Band	A
O/E SIGNAL	0.94

Riffle
Seasons	AUT97SPR97
O/E Taxa	0.81
Band	B
O/E SIGNAL	0.9

Taxa Collected

X= Taxa Predicted & Collected, O = Taxa Predicted & NOT Collected, + = Taxa Collected & NOT Predicted

Edge
			Autumn '97	Spring '97
Phylum	Class/Order	Family	15-Apr-97	21-Oct-97
Annelida	Oligochaeta		+	+
Crustacea	Decapoda	Atyidae	X	X
Insecta	Coleoptera	Dytiscidae	X	X
Insecta	Coleoptera	Hydraenidae	+
Insecta	Coleoptera	Hydrophilidae	X	X
Insecta	Diptera	Chironominae	X	O
Insecta	Diptera	Orthocladiinae	O	X
Insecta	Diptera	Tabanidae	+
Insecta	Diptera	Tanypodinae	O	X
Insecta	Ephemeroptera	Baetidae	X	X
Insecta	Ephemeroptera	Caenidae	X	X
Insecta	Ephemeroptera	Leptophlebiidae	X	X
Insecta	Hemiptera	Corixidae	X	X
Insecta	Hemiptera	Gerridae	O
Insecta	Hemiptera	Hebridae	+
Insecta	Hemiptera	Notonectidae	X	X
Insecta	Hemiptera	Veliidae	O	O
Insecta	Lepidoptera	Pyralidae	+
Insecta	Odonata	Aeshnidae	+
Insecta	Odonata	Coenagrionidae	+
Insecta	Odonata	Corduliidae	+	+
Insecta	Odonata	Gomphidae	O	O
Insecta	Trichoptera	Hydropsychidae	+
Insecta	Trichoptera	Leptoceridae	X	O
Insecta	Trichoptera	Odontoceridae	+
Mollusca	Gastropoda	Physidae	+	X
Platyhelminthes	Turbellaria	Dugesiidae		+

X= Taxa Predicted & Collected, O = Taxa Predicted & NOT Collected, + = Taxa Collected & NOT Predicted

Riffle
			Autumn '97	Spring '97
Phylum	Class/Order	Family	15-Apr-97	21-Oct-97
Annelida	Oligochaeta		O	X
Arachnida	Hydracarina			O
Crustacea	Decapoda	Atyidae	+	+
Crustacea	Decapoda	Palaemonidae	O
Insecta	Coleoptera	Elmidae	O	X
Insecta	Coleoptera	Gyrinidae	+
Insecta	Coleoptera	Psephenidae	+
Insecta	Diptera	Chironominae	X	X
Insecta	Diptera	Orthocladiinae	O	X
Insecta	Diptera	Simuliidae	O	X
Insecta	Diptera	Tabanidae	+
Insecta	Diptera	Tanypodinae	O	X
Insecta	Diptera	Tipulidae		O
Insecta	Ephemeroptera	Baetidae	X	X
Insecta	Ephemeroptera	Caenidae	O	X
Insecta	Ephemeroptera	Leptophlebiidae	X	X
Insecta	Hemiptera	Corixidae	+
Insecta	Hemiptera	Veliidae	+
Insecta	Megaloptera	Corydalidae	X	X
Insecta	Odonata	Gomphidae	+	X
Insecta	Plecoptera	Gripopterygidae	O	O
Insecta	Trichoptera	Conoesucidae		+
Insecta	Trichoptera	Ecnomidae	+	+
Insecta	Trichoptera	Hydrobiosidae	X	X
Insecta	Trichoptera	Hydropsychidae	X	O
Insecta	Trichoptera	Hydroptilidae	+	+
Insecta	Trichoptera	Leptoceridae		+
Insecta	Trichoptera	Philopotamidae	+	O
Mollusca	Bivalvia	Corbiculidae	O
Mollusca	Gastropoda	Physidae		+
Platyhelminthes	Turbellaria	Dugesiidae	+	+

Water Quality Data

	Autumn '97	Spring '97
Variable	15-Apr-97	21-Oct-97
Water Temperature (°C)	19.6	19.1
Conductivity (µS/Cm)	600	521
Alkalinity (mg CaCO₃ /L)	230	190
pH	8	8.15
Dissolved Oxygen (mg/L)	11.2	12.9
Turbidity (NTU)	1.2	3
Low Total Phosphorus (µg/L)	95	95
Free Reactive Phosphorus (µg/L)
NOx Nitrogen (µg/L)	10	<10
Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (mg/L)	<0.3	<0.3
Nitrate (µg/L)
Nitrite (µg/L)

Key

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