Eurobodalla Shire Council
Ocean beaches: Cookies, Casey, Surf, Malua Bay, Broulee, Bengello, Shelley, Tuross Main, Brou, Narooma Main. Netted beach: Wagonga Inlet. For details see 08472Eurobodalla.pdf, 348 KB.
Local government area description
Eurobodalla Shire is located on the South Coast of New South Wales, between Shoalhaven City Council to the north and Bega Valley Shire to the south. It has an area of approximately 3 402 square kilometres, with 110 kilometres of coastline and 60 named beaches. There are also three major river systems: the Clyde, Deua and Tuross.
The population of the region is approximately 35 009 and growing at a rate of 1.4 per cent each year. The major towns in the shire are Batemans Bay, Narooma and Moruya. Approximately 80 per cent of the land is either State Forest or National Park. The major commercial activities include dairy farming, forestry, fishing, tourism, and the building and service industries (Eurobodalla Shire Council 2007).
Program outline
Eleven swimming sites were monitored by Eurobodalla Shire Council between October 2007 and April 2008. The sites were 10 ocean beaches and a netted beach just within the breakwalls of Wagonga Inlet. For details see 08472Eurobodalla.pdf, 348 KB.
All sites were previously monitored during summer 2006–2007, summer 2005–2006, summer 2004–2005 and summer 2002–2003 (DECC 2007, DEC 2004b, 2006a and 2006b).
Faecal coliforms and enterococci results were assessed against the NHMRC (1990) swimming water quality guidelines to determine suitability for swimming. The required five samples needed to calculate compliance were collected in all months.
Eurobodalla Council issued joint media releases with DECC during the summer swimming season to provide the community with information on water quality at swimming sites.
Rainfall data
Rainfall data presented in the timeseries plots were obtained from the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauges at Batemans Bay (Buckenbowra), Moruya (The Lagoon) and Narooma. Rainfall for each site is from the closest rain gauge.
Ocean beaches
Guideline compliance
Nine of the 10 ocean beaches consistently complied with the NHMRC (1990) swimming water quality guidelines in all seven months of the 2007–2008 summer swimming season (Figure 12). 08472Eurobodalla.pdf, 348 KB.
A relatively high level of compliance was also recorded at Surf Beach. This site complied in six of the seven months, failing the guidelines in November 2007 owing to elevated levels of enterococci.
A high level of compliance with the swimming guidelines was also recorded during summer 2004–2005, summer 2005–2006 and summer 2006–2007 (DEC 2006a and 2006b, DECC 2007).
Response to Rainfall
Levels of bacteria were generally low at all ocean beaches during the monitoring period, showing little response to rainfall. The exception was Surf Beach which had elevated enterococci results in response to rainfall.
Wagonga Inlet
Guideline compliance
The netted beach at Wagonga Inlet consistently complied with the NHMRC (1990) swimming water quality guidelines in all seven months of the 2007–2008 summer swimming season (Figure 12). 08472Eurobodalla.pdf, 348 KB.
A similar high level of compliance has been recorded in previous years (DEC 2006a and 2006b, DECC 2007).
Response to Rainfall
Levels of bacteria were generally low at Wagonga Inlet during the monitoring period, showing little response to rainfall.
Figure 12: Summary of compliance with NHMRC (1990) microbiological guidelines for swimming at Eurobodalla Shire Council swimming sites over the 2007–2008 summer season
Page last updated: 26 February 2011
