Kempsey Council
Ocean beaches: Grassy Head, Horseshoe Bay, Trial Bay, Hat Head, Killick Beach.
Estuarine location: Stuarts Point. Creeks: Back Creek, Killick Creek, Saltwater Creek, Korogoro Creek. For details see (08472Kempsey.pdf, 373 KB)
Local government area description
Kempsey Shire is situated in the Macleay Valley on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales. The Shire covers an area of 3376 square kilometres of which almost 30 per cent is under formal reserve. The council area has more than 80 kilometres of coastline.
The Kempsey Shire is part of the fastest growing non-metropolitan area in New South Wales and has a population of more than 28 000 (Kempsey Shire Council 2006).
The Macleay River is a significant natural feature of the region. It travels from the mountains of the New England Tableland through Kempsey, exiting to the ocean at South West Rocks.
Program outline
Ten swimming locations were monitored in the Kempsey Shire: five ocean beaches, one estuarine swimming location and four creeks. These sites were also monitored during the 2004–2005, 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 summer swimming seasons (DEC 2006a and 2006b, DECC 2007).
Faecal coliform samples were collected during October 2007 and November 2007 and enterococci samples were collected from November 2007 to April 2008 to assess compliance with the NHMRC (1990) swimming water quality guidelines.
It should be noted that the five samples necessary to calculate compliance were not collected in all months. In months with only four samples, a sample from an adjacent month was ’borrowed’ in order to provide the five data points required. In months when less than four samples were collected, compliance could not be determined.
Rainfall
Rainfall data presented in the timeseries plots were obtained from the Bureau of Meteorology gauge at South West Rocks.
Ocean beaches
Guideline compliance
A high level of compliance with NHMRC (1990) swimming guidelines was recorded at the ocean beaches during the 2007–2008 summer swimming season (Figure 6).
Grassy Head, Horseshoe Bay, Trial Bay, Hat Head and Killick beaches all complied with the swimming guidelines in all months in which sufficient samples were collected. For details see (08472Kempsey.pdf, 373 KB)
Response to rainfall
Levels of enterococci were generally low at ocean beaches over the monitoring period, indicating little sewage contamination at these sites.
Elevated enterococci levels were occasionally measured in the later months of the monitoring period in response to heavy rainfall.
Estuarine location
Guideline compliance
A high level of compliance was recorded at Stuarts Point, which complied with the NHMRC (1990) swimming water quality guidelines in four of the five months in which sufficient samples were collected (Figure 6). For details see (08472Kempsey.pdf, 373 KB)
Response to rainfall
Enterococci levels at Stuarts Point were generally low throughout the monitoring period, with some elevated results recorded in response to heavy rainfall in January and February 2008.
Creeks
Guideline compliance
A low level of compliance was recorded at Killick Creek and Back Creek, which passed the NHMRC (1990) swimming water quality guidelines in only two of five months during the summer swimming season (Figure 6). Korogoro Creek complied with swimming guidelines in October 2007 and January 2008, only two of the three months in which sufficient samples were collected to calculate compliance.
Compliance in Saltwater Creek was the lowest, complying with swimming guidelines in only one of the five months in which sufficient samples were collected (Figure 6). For details see (08472Kempsey.pdf, 373 KB)
Response to rainfall
All creek sites recorded elevated enterococci levels in response to rainfall during the 2007–2008 summer swimming season. Very high levels were recorded at Killick Creek in response to heavy rainfall in February and April 2008.
As a precaution, swimming in these creeks should be avoided following rainfall.
Figure 6: Summary of compliance with NHMRC (1990) microbiological guidelines for swimming at Kempsey Council swimming sites during the 2007–2008 summer swimming season
Page last updated: 26 February 2011
