Nadgee Lake

Our water quality monitoring program has shown Nadgee Lake to have excellent water quality. Find out more about the estuary and its unique features.

Nadgee Lake is located on the far south coast of New South Wales. It is classed as a back-dune lagoon with an intermittently closed entrance.

This estuary is recognised as near-pristine because of its protection and isolation deep within Nadgee Nature Reserve. It is the southern most estuary in New South Wales.

Estuary health and features

Water quality

As part of our water quality monitoring program we assess the water quality and ecosystem health of an estuary using a range of relevant indicators. We sample a subset of the estuaries between Wollongong and the Victorian border every 3 years. The most recent sampling in Nadgee Lake was completed over the 2020–21 summer when 2 sites were sampled on a monthly basis.

Nadgee Lake water quality report card for algae and water clarity showing colour-coded ratings (red, orange, yellow, light green and dark green, which represent very poor, poor, fair, good and excellent, respectively). Algae is rated 'excellent' and water clarity is rated 'excellent' giving an overall rating of 'excellent' or 'A'.

This report card represents 2 water quality indicators that we routinely measure: the amount of algae present and water clarity. Low levels of these 2 indicators equate with good water quality.

The report card shows the condition of the estuary was excellent with:

  • algae abundance graded excellent (A)
  • water clarity graded excellent (A)
  • overall estuary health graded excellent (A).

Find out more about our estuary report cards and what each grade means. Read our sampling, data analysis and reporting protocols and find out how we calculate these grades.

We have monitored water quality in Nadgee Lake since 2009. This table shows the water quality grades for this estuary over that time.

Nadgee Lake historic water quality grades from 2009-10 for algae and water clarity. Colour-coded ratings (red, orange, yellow, light green and dark green represent very poor (E), poor (D), fair (C), good (B) and excellent (A), respectively).

Grades for algae, water clarity and overall are represented as:

  • A – excellent
  • B – good
  • C – fair
  • D – poor
  • E – very poor.

Physical characteristics

Estuary type: Back-dune lagoon

Entrance
location 		Latitude (ºS) –37.47
Longitude (ºE) 149.97
Catchment area (km2) 13.7
Estuary area (km2) 1.2
Estuary volume (ML) 1090
Average depth (m) 0.9
Notes: km2 = square kilometres; m = metres; ML = megalitres.  

Water depth and survey data

Bathymetric and coastal topography data for this estuary are available in our data portal.

Land use

The entire catchment of Nadgee Lake is undisturbed forest within Nadgee Nature Reserve.

National and marine parks

Community involvement

Nadgee Lake

Local government management

Local councils manage estuaries within their area unless the estuary is attached to a marine park. Bega Valley Shire Council manage this estuary.