Wapengo Lagoon

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

Wapengo Lagoon is located on the far south coast of New South Wales. It is classed as a lake with an open entrance, meaning the estuary is permanently open to the ocean.

Wapengo Lagoon supports a commercial oyster farming industry. The estuary supports both saltmarsh and mangroves.

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 Wapengo Lake was completed over the 2021–22 summer when 2 sites were sampled on a monthly basis.

Wapengo 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 '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 Wapengo Lagoon since 2014. This table shows the water quality grades for this estuary over that time.

Wapengo Lagoon historic water quality grades from 2014-15 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: Barrier river

Entrance
location 		Latitude (ºS) –36.63
Longitude (ºE) 150.02
Catchment area (km2) 68.5
Estuary area (km2) 3.7
Estuary volume (ML) 4070
Average depth (m) 1.3
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 Wapengo Lagoon has relatively low disturbance with almost 80% forested, including a portion of Mimosa Rocks National Park. About 15% of the catchment is used for grazing.

National and marine parks

  • Mimosa Rocks National Park is the largest conservation area in the Wapengo Lagoon 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

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.