Water Quality and Aquatic Ecosystem Monitoring

Understanding Water Quality in Eastern Cape York: Our Monitoring Project

The Cape York Water Partnership is actively involved in monitoring and protecting the unique aquatic ecosystems of Eastern Cape York. The Eastern Cape York Water Quality Program (ECYWQP) Monitoring Project built on previous efforts to monitor sediment loads discharged to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) from the Endeavour Basin (Annan and Endeavour estuaries) and Jeannie Basin (McIvor, Starcke, Jeannie, Muck estuaries). The project also monitored sediment loads at five Annan River freshwater tributaries, to quantify the relative contributions from each tributary to Annan end-of-system sediment loads.

Threats to water quality in southeastern Cape York include erosion from gullies, roads and tracks, feral animals, and frequent wildfires. Monitoring sediment loads from these rivers is critical to understand their potential influence on coastal reefs and seagrass meadows, validate and improve the models used to determine management and investment priorities for the Great Barrier Reef, and monitor potential changes in sediment loads from future changes in land use or land management.

For more information, see the Project Fact Sheet below.