A catchment health monitoring program for the Coffs Coast Catchments.
About the Ecohealth program
The Northern Rivers Aquatic Ecosystem Health Monitoring Program (Ecohealth) is a catchment-based estuarine and freshwater monitoring and reporting program currently being trialled by City of Coffs Harbour.
It provides an assessment of water quality, riparian (river bank) vegetation condition, fish assemblage, and macroinvertebrate (waterbugs) distribution to assess ecosystem health of individual waterways and catchments.
The catchment health information and data collected by the Ecohealth program for the Coffs Coastal Catchments is now available on the interactive Ecohealth web site hosted by the University of New England. You can use the web site to search for data and information about your local waterways and also enter your own water quality observations and data via the Citizen Science function on the web site.
You can also view historic catchment health report cards by clicking on the links below.
Ecohealth Report Card 2022(PDF, 3MB)
Coffs Harbour Region Ecohealth Project 2019-2022 Final Report(PDF, 3MB)
State of the Environment Report 2016(PDF, 11MB)
Ecohealth - A Health Check for our Waterways A3 Brochure(PDF, 975KB)
Ecohealth - Coffs Harbour Region 2012(PDF, 5MB)
Northern Catchment Ecohealth Report Card 2012(PDF, 2MB)
Southern Catchment Ecohealth Report Card 2012(PDF, 2MB)
Sampling Sites
- Bonville and Pine Creek
- Boambee and Newports Creek
- Coffs Creek
- Moonee Creek
- Hearnes Lake
- Woolgoolga Lake
- Darkum Creek
- Arrawarra Creek
- Corindi and Saltwater Creek
Sampling regime
Monthly sampling for water chemistry, bi-annual sampling for macroinvertebrates at freshwater sites, and a once-off assessment of riparian condition are the key components of Ecohealth. In addition, macrophyte mapping of estuaries and water quality measurements and samples collected at each site are:- Water depth (m), pH, Temperature (C), Conductivity (mS/cm) and Salinity (ppt), Dissolved oxygen (mg/L and % saturation), Turbidity (NTU), Secchi depth (m), Total Suspended Solids (TSS) (mg/L), Chlorophyll a (ug/L), Total nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) (mg/L).