Curalo Lagoon

Our water quality monitoring program has shown Curalo Lagoon to have good water quality. Find out more about the estuary and its unique features.

Curalo Lagoon is located on the south coast of New South Wales north of the township of Eden. It is classed as small lagoon with an intermittently closed entrance.

The main tributary, Palestine Creek, flows through an industrial area and enters the lake from the north west.

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 Curalo Lagoon was completed over the 2017–18 summer when 2 sites were sampled on a monthly basis.

Curalo Lagoon 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 'fair' and water clarity is rated 'excellent' giving an overall rating of 'good' or 'B'.

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:

  • algae abundance graded fair (C)
  • water clarity graded good (B)
  • overall estuary health graded good (B).

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.

Physical characteristics

Estuary type: Lagoon

Entrance
location 		Latitude (ºS) –37.05
Longitude (ºE) 149.92
Catchment area (km2) 28.2
Estuary area (km2) 0.8
Estuary volume (ML) 637.6
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 catchment of Curalo Lagoon has relatively low disturbance with 80% remaining forested and around 10% used for urban areas associated with the township of Eden.

National and marine parks

  • The northern section of Ben Boyd National Park is the largest conservation area within this catchment.
  • This estuary does not flow into a marine park.

Citizen science projects

  • The Far South Coast Conservation Management Network supports the local community to better manage native biodiversity. The network organises citizen science projects, provides information for private landowners, manages a local plant database, and coordinates events.

Community involvement

Curalo Lagoon