INTEGRATED WATER QUALITY MONITORING PROGRAM - BURGESS CREEK · Unitywater Burgess Creek REMP 2022 Annual Review (A7703347)

                                                                 Burgess Creek Monitoring Program
                                                                               Annual Review 2022



5.2 Summary Statistics
Summary statistics of nutrient concentrations and microbiological indicators across all
monitoring sites are in Appendix A - Summary statistics of nutrient concentrations and
microbiological indicators at each monitoring site

5.3 Spatial Trends
Figure 7 to Figure 22 shows the spatial variability of average concentrations with error
bars of water quality parameters measured within Burgess Creek against distance from the
mouth. These figures demonstrate how the Noosa STP and catchment sources affect water
quality spatially (longitudinally) within Burgess Creek.

The following trends were noted in the monitoring data:
  •    E.coli, enterococci and thermotolerant (faecal) coliform concentrations at B3
       immediately downstream of the treated wastewater discharge pipe remain below
       upstream values represented in B8 and B2. Throughout the catchment E.coli remains
       below average background concentrations at B8. Whereas the average
       concentrations of enterococci and thermotolerant (faecal) coliform at B1 and SW3
       are highest at the mouth and decreases with increasing distance from the mouth of
       the Burgess Creek Catchment (Figure 7, Figure 8, Figure 9)

  •    Ammonia concentration was highest at B3 and decreased consistently to SW3.
       Ammonia returned to concentrations similar to background site B2 and B8 close to
       the mouth (Figure 10).

  •    Nitrate & Nitrite (NOx), Total Nitrogen, Filter Reactive Phosphorous and Total
       Phosphorous follow a similar trend with the highest concentrations recorded at B3
       immediately downstream of the STP outfall, declining slightly (though remaining
       relatively high comparative to background) downstream to the point of discharge into
       the ocean. Concentrations of these nutrients were relatively low at B8 and B2
       upstream of the STP outfall (Figure 11, Figure 12, Figure 13, Figure 14).

  •    Temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH and conductivity were low upstream of the STP
       outfall point, notably increasing at the outfall point (or just downstream), before
       decreasing slightly (or remaining similar) with distance downstream of the STP outfall
       (Figure 15, Figure 16, Figure 17, Figure 18).




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