Moona Moona Creek

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

Moona Moona Creek is an estuarine creek with an intermittently closed entrance. Moona Moona Creek flows into Jervis Bay and is part of the Jervis Bay Marine Park.

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 Moona Moona Creek was completed over the 2014–15 summer when 2 sites were sampled on a monthly basis.

Moona Moona Creek 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 'good' and water clarity is rated 'good' 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 good (B)
  • 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.

We have monitored water quality in Moona Moona Creek since 2011. This table shows the water quality grades for this estuary over that time.

Moonamoona Creek historic water quality grades from 2011-12 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: Creek

Entrance
location
Latitude (ºS) –35.05
Longitude (ºE) 150.68
Catchment area (km2) 28.6
Estuary area (km2) 0.1
Estuary volume (ML) 58.2
Average depth (m) 0.4
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 Moona Moona Creek is moderately disturbed. Around 70% of the catchment is forested, some of which is within Jervis Bay National Park. Urban and rural residential areas form 20% of the catchment and include the towns of Tomerong, Huskisson and Vincentia.

National and marine parks

  • Jervis Bay National Park is the largest conservation area in the Moona Moona Creek catchment.
  • The Moona Moona Creek estuary is located in the Jervis Bay Marine Park. The entrance of the estuary is included in the habitat protection zone for the marine park.

Community involvement

  • Shoalhaven City Council’s Bushcare webpage provides links to a range of active groups in and around this catchment.
Moona Moona Creek