Shoalhaven City Council
Ocean beaches: Shoalhaven Heads, Tilbury Cove, Warrain, Collingwood, Cudmirrah, Mollymook, Rennies, Racecourse, Bawley Point, Merry. For details see 08472Shoalhaven.pdf, 491 KB.
Local government area description
Shoalhaven City Council is located on the New South Wales South Coast and extends from Broughton in the north to North Durras in the south. The council covers an area of 4660 square kilometres and includes approximately 1000 kilometres of coastline.
The population of the region is approximately 90,400 and is growing at the rate of 2.8 per cent each year.
The Shoalhaven has more visitors each year than any other regional local government area in New South Wales and tourism is very important to the local economy. Dairy farming, light industry and fishing are also important commercial activities in the region (Shoalhaven City Council 2003).
Program outline
Ten sites were monitored during summer 2007–2008. These were the ocean beaches of Shoalhaven Heads, Warrain, Tilbury Cove, Collingwood, Cudmirrah, Mollymook, Rennies, Racecourse, Bawley and Merry. For details see 08472Shoalhaven.pdf, 491 KB.
Faecal coliform and enterococci samples were collected from all locations between December 2007 and February 2008, the three busiest months of the summer swimming season. Results were used to assess compliance with the NHMRC (1990) swimming water quality guidelines. The required five samples were collected in all months.
Rainfall
Rainfall data presented in the timeseries plots were obtained from the Bureau of Meteorology’s gauges at Jervis Bay (Point Perpendicular) and Ulladulla. Rainfall for each site is from the closest rain gauge.
Ocean beaches
Guideline compliance
A high level of compliance was recorded at ocean beaches in the Shoalhaven. All ten beaches complied with the NHMRC (1990) swimming water quality guidelines in the three months between December 2007 and February 2008 (Figure 11). For details see 08472Shoalhaven.pdf, 491 KB.
Response to rainfall
Levels of faecal coliforms and enterococci measured at the ocean beaches were generally low throughout the monitoring period. Occasionally elevated results were recorded, usually in response to heavy rainfall.
Figure 11: Summary of compliance with NHMRC (1990) microbiological guidelines for swimming at Shoalhaven City Council swimming sites over the 2007–2008 summer season
Page last updated: 26 February 2011
