Our water quality monitoring program has shown Lake Mummaga to have good water quality. Find out more about the estuary and its unique features.
Lake Mummuga borders the town of Dalmeny on the south coast of New South Wales. It is classed as a lagoon with an intermittently closed entrance.
Two small tributaries flow into Lake Mummuga. Most of the catchment area for the lake is in the Eurobodalla National Park and the estuarine waters are protected as part of the Batemans Marine Park.
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 Lake Mummaga was completed over the 2020–21 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.
We have monitored water quality in Lake Mummuga since 2014. This table shows the water quality grades for this estuary over that time.
Grades for algae, water clarity and overall are represented as:
Estuary type: Lagoon
| Entrance location |
Latitude (ºS) | –36.16 |
|---|---|---|
| Longitude (ºE) | 150.13 | |
| Catchment area (km2) | 25.8 | |
| Estuary area (km2) | 1.7 | |
| Estuary volume (ML) | 1648.7 | |
| Average depth (m) | 1 | |
Bathymetric and coastal topography data for this estuary are available in our data portal.
The catchment of Lake Mummaga is relatively undisturbed with over 95% remaining forested, a small fraction being in Eurobodalla National Park. The urban area at Dalmeny accounts for 5% of land use.
Local councils manage estuaries within their area unless the estuary is attached to a marine park.
Eurobodalla Shire Council manage this estuary, which is located in Batemans Marine Park.
Estuaries provide important breeding, nursery and feeding grounds for many animals, such as fish and birds.
Read more about the biodiversity in our estuaries.