Our water quality monitoring program has shown Bellambi Lake to have good water quality. Find out more about the estuary and its unique features.
Bellambi Lake is located south of Sydney in North Wollongong. It is classed as an estuarine creek with an intermittently closed entrance.
Bellambi Lake is part of the Bellambi Lake Reserve at Sandpit Point and is an important cultural heritage area for the local Aboriginal community. The reserve includes a lagoon and small islands surrounded by swamp oaks, coastal sclerophyll and saltmarsh.
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 Bellambi Lake was completed over the 2008–09 summer when 2 sites were sampled on a monthly basis.
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 good with:
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.
Estuary type: Creek
| Entrance location |
Latitude (ºS) | –34.38 |
|---|---|---|
| Longitude (ºE) | 150.92 | |
| Catchment area (km2) | 1.3 | |
| Estuary area (km2) | 0.03 | |
| Estuary volume (ML) | 7.3 | |
| Average depth (m) | 0.2 | |
Bathymetric and coastal topography data for this estuary are available in our data portal.
The catchment for Bellambi Lake is highly disturbed with over 90% of land use changed to urban areas. The towns of Corrimal and East Corrimal to the north of Wollongong, are within this catchment.
Bellambi Lake is listed as an area of significance for the Wollongong area as part of Bellambi Lake and Sandspit Point. The area has significant Aboriginal cultural heritage with middens found in the area. It is also contains ecologically important habitat for birds.
Local councils manage estuaries within their area unless the estuary is attached to a marine park.
Wollongong City Council manage this estuary.
Many threatened bird species have been reported in the Bellambi Lake catchment area, including the white-bellied sea eagle.
Read more about the biodiversity in our estuaries.