Water Quality

A good indicator of the health of a catchment is the quality of the water that flows out the lower end. With this in mind, our Landcare group has been part of the Streamwatch programme, now with the Greater Sydney Landcare Network, for over 14 years. In turn, this is part of the Australia-wide Waterwatch water quality monitoring program.

Is it safe to paddle in our local creeks?

Still Creek Landcare have tested the water quality monthly for 14 years in three local locations: Charltons Creek, top of the catchment; Still Creek at Mansfield Rd, mid-catchment and Still Creek at Crosslands on exit to Berowra Creek, after the various tributaries have joined. We test for:

Excess nutrients from fertilisers and waste water: Phosphates test
Salts from human activities and waste water: Electrical conductivity test
Faecal bacteria from human, livestock and other animal shit: E. coli test
Sediment from erosion of soil due to animals, building, earth moving: Turbidity test
Life in the water depends on the oxygen level: Dissolved Oxygen test
Life itself in the water: inspect for presence of macroinvertebrate creatures

The condition of these waterways has not deteriorated over the last 14 years, although there has been an increase in E. coli detection in the last 4 years, but not to high levels. So we should all watch our waste water treatment systems and keep animal waste from lying around to seep into the creeks.

Based on our test results, these waters are clean enough to paddle in most of the time, but not after heavy rain and during high water flows because at those times more runoff occurs and more stuff gets washed in.

The Streamwatch program now has a simpler, safer kit, giving an immediate result for some of these tests.

Water Quality brochure

For information on our water quality, what we test for, the sources of pollution and what we can do to help, please see our Clean Waterways brochure

What have we found?

Water tests have shown that the catchment is in good condition and that general water quality has being maintained over the last 15 years
On exit from the catchment into Berowra Creek at Crosslands most results are good with the areas of bush and the dilution effect improving the water as it flows through the catchment
Further upstream in the catchment, closer to residences, results are not as good, but are not a major problem
Charltons Creek , high in the catchment, tends to be high in phosphorous, with quite notable surges after heavy rain
Still Creek in mid-catchment at Mansfield Road is high in salts, as measured by electrical conductivity tests and shows a large variation, with a long flat tail
E. coli incidence is low but has increased 7 times over the last 15 years, this unexplained.
Waterbug (Macroinvertebrates) observations have found Mayflies, Caddisflies at sometimes Stoneflies at both Charltons Ck and Still Ck Crosslands
See these articles on the waterbugs: Tiny Creatures in Our Creeks and Life in Local Waterways

Map of Test Sites.

On a regular basis, testing is completed at 3 fixed sites each month. Other sites in the catchment have also been tested and we are willing to test sites on request of landowners.