How clean are our beaches and waterways?
December 17, 2008
Our beaches and waterways are the Far North Coast’s greatest asset, and a report released today finds that most pass the clean-beach test.
The Department of Environment and Climate Change’s Beachwatch Partnership Program tested swimming areas and beaches in the Clarence Valley, Richmond Valley and Ballina Shire areas. Apart from a few ‘failures’ in the Clarence River at Grafton, beaches and waterways at Iluka, Evans Head, Ballina and Lennox Head passed the test.
The State of the Beaches summary reports that faecal coliform and enterococci samples were collected to assess compliance with NHMRC (1990) swimming water quality guidelines. The tests were carried out in conjunction with local councils.
The Far North Coast areas tested were:
- Evans Head: Richmond Valley Council monitored Airforce Beach, Main Beach and Shark Bay.
- Ballina/Lennox Head: Ballina Shire Council monitored nine locations over the 2007–2008 summer swimming season: the ocean beaches of Seven Mile and Shelly, three sites in Lake Ainsworth in Lennox, one site at The Serpentine at Ballina’s North Creek and three sites in Shaws Bay.
- Clarence Valley: Clarence Valley Council monitored eight locations in the Clarence River — an estuarine swimming site (Iluka Bay) and seven riverine swimming sites (Maclean Jetty, Lawrence, Prince Street, Grafton Sailing Club, South Mariner, Corcoran Park and Ulmarra Jetty).
Deputy Premier and Minister for the Environment and Climate Change Carmel Tebbutt launched the report today.
Full findings, region by region:
Related posts:
- Surf lifesavers return to our beaches this weekend
- Evans Head Aerodrome clean-up: Questions asked
- Brown snakes, sea lice: all in a day’s work for our lifeguards
- North Coast lifeguard co-ordinator Steve Leahy’s daily beach report
- Pied Oyster Catcher is breeding; beach users urged to be careful
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