Catchment Health
Report Card
The Richmond River Ecological Health Program aims to provide ongoing riparian and ecological river health information for the Richmond River and its waterways. The program is being delivered by the Richmond Riverkeeper in partnership with River Ecology Australia.
A major component of the program is examining the type and number of macroinvertebrates (water bugs) collected. This can tell us a lot about how healthy or unhealthy a river is because different macroinvertebrates have varying sensitivity to pollution.
Some macroinvertebrates will survive pretty much anywhere others require the most pristine waters. Monitoring macroinvertebrates over time can help assess the effectiveness of restoration efforts. Improvement in macroinvertebrate diversity and abundance indicates positive changes in water quality and river habitat conditions. This feedback helps guide future restoration actions and adaptive management strategies.
The overall ecological health grade of C- from the data collected in the first round of sampling for the Richmond River Ecological Health Program in Autumn 2023 reflects the recent extreme conditions (significant flooding events in February 2022) and historical land management and use of the Richmond River catchment. Results indicate that the lower catchment sites tend to have poorer water quality and low macroinvertebrate diversity. However, even for our upper catchment sites, where the water quality is better, macroinvertebrate diversity is still quite low.
This indicates that aquatic habitat is compromised throughout the catchment, including in the upper reaches. Aquatic habitat can be impacted by reduced riparian vegetation, which in turn increases the risk of sediment entering our water ways. Widespread landslides occurred throughout the upper catchment because of the 2022 floods, and this sediment load may have a significant legacy impact on aquatic health in the Richmond River catchment into the future. The ecological health grades decline further down the catchment. The low ecological health grades in the lower catchment are likely due to a combination of reduced riparian condition as well as urban and agricultural nutrient and sediment inputs.
Thanks to our citizen scientists' incredible dedication and invaluable contributions, who have gone above and beyond to collect river health data throughout the catchment. Groups will continue to collect river health data every six months, allowing us to track changes and trends in the state of our rivers over time.
A comprehensive report card will be released with each new data collection. It will provide publicly available ongoing riparian and ecological river health information for the Richmond River and its waterways and catchment. This regular reporting ensures that our community has access to up-to-date and transparent information about the health of our waterways, empowering us to make informed decisions and take necessary actions to preserve and improve river health.
Launching the first citizen science driven Ecological Health Report Card for the Richmond River
Thank you for the support
The Richmond River Ecological Health Program was seeded through a grant from Southern Cross University. The 2024 Pilot Program is being delivered through the NSW Environment Protection Authority’s Flood Recovery Program for Water Quality Monitoring, in partnership with the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, and supported by the Riparian Stabilisation Package. The Riparian Stabilisation Package is co-funded by the Australian and NSW Governments under Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.
