December 2023: Water Quality Analysis

Hi everyone

The last month or so has seen some of the most spectacular displays of the destructive force of nature that most of us will have seen, or hope to see, in our lifetime.

Amongst our membership Kim and Kim’s property sustained a lot of damage, as did the property of Helen’s family at Wongawallan. There are no doubt others.

We extend to you all our best wishes for a healthy recovery from what is a severe test of both physical and emotional energies; we are probably best at coping physically however the sheer horror of being involved in such events is more difficult to overcome.

Full credit is given to CoGC for organising relief crews to open roadways, and to open the Upper Coomera Community Centre so as to facilitate face to face interactions between affected residents and insurers. Full credit is also given to the local residents for their stoic acceptance of what happened, lending a helping hand to neighbours. and then getting to work cleaning up as best could be managed.

Regarding the December results the following information is offered:

There was a great deal of rain received in December, and again in January, and this means that the rivers and streams have experienced a thorough remake as a results
Significant quantities of stone were moved in every waterway, in particular Wongawallan Creek which now has no riffles to enable sampling for macroinvertebrates
Waterhen Lake experienced a significant improvement in water quality with greatly improved turbidity readings and visibly looking cleaner; and whilst the reactive phosphate levels were still high, the ammonia nitrogen readings were well down, indication healthy septic systems in the neighbourhood
Regatta Waters had elevated reactive phosphate and ammonia nitrogen readings indicating that in some parts there was significant garden fertiliser runoff and possibly a recurrent problem with the sewerage system
The saltwater reaches of the Coomera River were sampled prior to the Christmas deluge so the salinity was high except for the Weir where the river had been revitalised with increased rainfall and in the river below the weir the waters were about half the salinity of further downstream at Koala Town Road.

Our first planting for 2024 will be on Saturday 10th February, 2024.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Kind regards

Steven Gill