What our 5-year data report tells us

It is more important now than ever that we focus on protecting very healthy ecosystems, such as this one.

The Bellinger and Kalang rivers are unique and some of the healthiest and most pristine rivers in Australia.

“The overall condition of rivers across NSW is moderate.”
- NSW SOE, 2021
Unlike the state average, Bellingen Riverwatch data (2017-2022) shows that the rivers of the Bellinger catchment and Kalang catchment are in very good health.
- Our water quality data catchment scores are 90% (Bellinger catchment) and 94% (Kalang catchment).
- Our Pesticides Detectives data tells us that no pesticides were detected in any of the seven Bellingen Riverwatch sites that were tested.
- Our macro data tells us that the sites we sampled have relatively healthy to very healthy macroinvertebrate communities. Results show a high abundance of known sensitive macroinvertebrate taxa collected at both Waterbug Blitz events which suggests that the instream habitat and water quality at these sites has been consistently good to very good.
- Our Platypus eDNA data tells us that this region is a stronghold for the platypus.

Fencing off the river and improving 20m of riparian zone along all rivers in both catchments is very important (with the exception for where structural works are required). Important aspects of protecting pristine rivers includes long term data collection, regenerating riverbanks and supporting positive river behaviours.

Within these very healthy results, our data highlights four main areas of concern.

The Bellingen community is very engaged with these rivers and they attract many tourists to this area. These river systems also support many threatened species, including the critically endangered Bellinger River Snapping turtle.

It is more important now than ever that we focus on protecting very healthy ecosystems, such as this one. Fencing off the river and improving 20m of riparian zone along all rivers in both catchments is very important (with the exception for where structural works are required).

Important aspects of protecting pristine rivers includes long term data collection, regenerating riverbanks and supporting positive river behaviours.

Read more below. The Steering Committee recommends further investigation into point 1, 3 and 4.

Figure 1 - Four main areas of concern from Bellingen Riverwatch data 2017-2022.

In the upper Bellinger River sites (B1, B2, B2.1, B3, B3.1), water quality across the parameters is generally excellent. One anomaly we have found is around elevated available phosphate levels at B2.1, which is also influencing B2. Our partners have been intrigued by these results for many years. As the area is currently forested, past agriculture practices and/or poorly managed onsite management systems could be a likely cause of these poorer results, as could the underlying geological conditions of this area which may have a higher phosphorus content affecting the stream.
These phosphate levels seem to also be affecting dissolved oxygen too. Often if nutrient like phosphate is found in the water, some oxygen levels can be affected by eutrophication, as well as the decomposition of organic matter. Also in this case, B2.1 could have some groundwater intrusion which is causing some iron-precipitate to affect the stream, which can pull oxygen from the water. We recommend that funding be sought for further investigation into origins of high phosphorus at this site.
In the mid Bellinger, there are turbidity issues presenting since the high rainfall events from May 2021 at B5.1 (Summervilles Road), most likely due to runoff and bank erosion issues upstream of this site.
Samples collected at Caratti Creek (B7.1) often showed elevated levels of phosphate and turbidity and lower levels of dissolved oxygen. Turbidity caused by soil erosion and algal growth among other things is often related to urbanised streams that experience high amounts of stormwater. Further investigation is needed to determine potential sources.
The S1 site (Spicketts Creek) has continually presented with issues over our five years of data. S1 has dispersed soil types once the riverbed is degraded at a certain level. We recommend that further funding be sought for investigation into the cause of these continuing poor water quality results.

All residents and tourists need to work together to

protect what we have.

“In terms of stream health it is usually more effective to protect (preserve) reaches of stream that remain in good condition, than to spend huge amounts of money trying to rehabilitate reaches that are already damaged. Similarly, it is usually more efficient to stop a stream deteriorating than to try to fix it later.”
- Rutherfurd, 1999

There is a responsibility that comes with these excellent river health results. With the huge loss of biodiversity happening across the globe, it is important now more than ever that we also focus on protecting Earth's very healthy ecosystems, such as this one. Not only for the diverse species that rely on these rivers now, but for the generations to come.

Caring for the environment doesn't only look like improving areas of poor health. It is imperative to protect healthy waterways, internationally, nationally and locally.

“"There are opportunities to protect Australia’s most important aquatic areas so that future generations do not have to pay the high costs of rehabilitation (e.g. as has happened for the River Murray).”
- Kingsford et al., 2005

Even small changes to a catchment can have large downstream impacts from the loss of stream biodiversity, reduced riparian vegetation condition, decreased human amenity not just within the freshwater environment but also the estuarine environments, harbours and bays. The damage at times can be so extensive that remediation is effectively irreversible (Vietz et al. 2014).

Priority Sites

Our 5-Year Data Report identifies the following priority sites (in order of priority):

B7.1 - Caratti Creek (77%)
B3.1 - Tysons Bridge (80%)
B2 - Bellinger 2 (80%)
B3 - Richardsons Bridge (82%)
S1 - Spicketts Creek (81%)
B5.1 - Summervilles Road (83%)
B2.1 - Cool Creek (85%)
B1 - Brinerville (88%)

Recommendations from the report

There are six key recommendations that have emerged from our 5-year data report.

There is a responsibility that comes with these excellent river health results. With the huge loss of biodiversity happening across the globe, it is important now more than ever that we also focus on protecting Earth's very healthy ecosystems, such as this one. Not only for the diverse species that rely on these rivers now, but for the generations to come.
Caring for the environment doesn't only look like improving areas of poor health. It is imperative to protect healthy waterways, internationally, nationally and locally.
Even small changes to a catchment can have large downstream impacts from the loss of stream biodiversity, reduced riparian vegetation condition, decreased human amenity not just within the freshwater environment but also the estuarine environments, harbours and bays. The damage at times can be so extensive that remediation is effectively irreversible (Vietz et al. 2014).
There are four main areas of concern that the Steering Committee would like
to highlight in Bellingen Riverwatch data (2017-2022) :
1. Upper Bellinger River (B1, B2, B2.1, B3, B3.1)
2. B5.1 Summervilles Road
3. B7.1 Caratti Creek
4. S1 Spicketts Creek
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1. Upper Bellinger RIver
In the upper Bellinger River sites (B1, B2, B2.1, B3, B3.1), water quality across the parameters is generally excellent. One anomaly we have found is around elevated available phosphate levels at B2.1, which is also influencing B2. Our partners have been intrigued by these results for many years. As the area is currently forested, past agriculture practices and/or poorly managed onsite management systems could be a likely cause of these poorer results, as could the underlying geological conditions of this area which may have a higher phosphorus content affecting the stream.
These phosphate levels seem to also be affecting dissolved oxygen too. Often if nutrient like phosphate is found in the water, some oxygen levels can be affected by eutrophication, as well as the decomposition of organic matter. Also in this case, B2.1 could have some groundwater intrusion which is causing some iron-precipitate to affect the stream, which can pull oxygen from the water. We recommend that funding be sought for further investigation into origins of high phosphorus at this site.
2. B5.1 (Summervilles Road)
In the mid Bellinger, there are turbidity issues presenting since the high rainfall events from May 2021 at B5.1 (Summervilles Road), most likely due to runoff and bank erosion issues upstream of this site.
3. B7.1 (Caratti Creek)
Samples collected at Caratti Creek (B7.1) often showed elevated levels of phosphate and turbidity and lower levels of dissolved oxygen. Turbidity caused by soil erosion and algal growth among other things is often related to urbanised streams that experience high amounts of stormwater. Further investigation is needed to determine potential sources.
4. S1 (Spicketts Creek)
The S1 site (Spicketts Creek) has continually presented with issues over our five years of data. S1 has dispersed soil types once the riverbed is degraded at a certain level. We recommend that further funding be sought for investigation into the cause of these continuing poor water quality results.
It is vitally important that everyone who lives in or visits this area continues to take actions to care for and protect these incredibly valuable ecosystems. To be a part of the generation that cares for and helps to keep these rivers pristine for the future is a real privilege and our partners believe the Bellingen Shire community and the people that visit this area are perfectly placed to take this on.
An important aspect of protecting pristine rivers includes "long-term collection and collation of ecological data for objective assessment of condition and to assess changes over time” (Kingsford et al., 2005). We thank our volunteers for their dedicated work in collecting water quality and macroinvertebrate monitoring data, and our partners, for their work in supporting volunteers, and collating and communicating our data.
It is important to create a 20m good quality riparian zone along all rivers in both catchments (with the exception for where structural works are required). This involves weeding and revegetating river banks.
Bellingen Riverwatch supports our partners' ongoing riparian restoration works wherever possible, and undertakes BR riparian restoration workshops.
In 2023, we will be commencing work at the B6 site (Gordonville Crossing).
For more information on riverbank restoration, see:
The Steering Committee recommends that funding be sought for further investigation into: 1) The origins of high phosphorus at Upper Bellinger sites (B1, B2, B2.1, B3, B3.1); 2) The potential sources of elevated levels of phosphate and turbidity and lower levels of dissolved oxygen at B7.1 (Caratti Creek).; and 3)The cause of these continuing poor water quality results at S1 (Spicketts Creek).

“In terms of stream health it is usually more effective to protect (preserve) reaches of stream that remain in good condition, than to spend huge amounts of money trying to rehabilitate reaches that are already damaged. Similarly, it is usually more efficient to stop a stream deteriorating than to try to fix it later.”
- Rutherfurd, 1999

“"There are opportunities to protect Australia’s most important aquatic areas so that future generations do not have to pay the high costs of rehabilitation (e.g. as has happened for the River Murray).”
- Kingsford et al., 2005