Our water quality monitoring program has shown Corindi River estuary to have good water quality. Find out more about the estuary and its unique features.
Corindi River estuary is a barrier river estuary on the north coast of New South Wales. It enters the ocean at the township of Red Rock. The largest tributary into the estuary is Saltwater Creek, which flows from the north west through Yuraygir National Park.
There are vast tidal flats around the estuary entrance which provide critical shorebird habitat as well as recreational value to visitors and residents of Red Rock. Mangrove and saltmarsh communities are widespread in the estuary.
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 located between the Queensland border and Taree every 3 years. The most recent sampling in Corindi River was completed over the 2021–22 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:
Coffs Harbour City Council, in collaboration with the University of New England’s EcoHealth Program, have carried out detailed ecosystem health monitoring in Corindi River. The results of the monitoring program, including a detailed water quality report card, are available on the Coffs Harbour City Council website.
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 the Corindi River since 2009. 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: Barrier river
| Entrance location |
Latitude (ºS) | –29.98 |
|---|---|---|
| Longitude (ºE) | 153.23 | |
| Catchment area (km2) | 146.4 | |
| Estuary area (km2) | 1.9 | |
| Estuary volume (ML) | 1557.1 | |
| Average depth (m) | 1.2 | |
Bathymetric and coastal topography data for this estuary are available in our data portal.
Corindi River drains a moderately disturbed catchment. Areas of the upper catchment have been modified for horticulture, particularly blueberry growing, and grazing, which make up most of the land-use changes that have occurred. Medium- and low-density urban areas occupy a fraction of the catchment. About 80% of the catchment remains as forest.
Local councils manage estuaries within their area unless the estuary is attached to a marine park.
Corindi River estuary is managed by Coffs Harbour City Council. The estuary is located within the Solitary Islands Marine Park.
Corindi River estuary provides a stronghold for coastal saltmarsh, an endangered ecological community, on the north coast of New South Wales.
Estuaries provide important protected environments where native plants grow and create habitat for animals.
Read more about the biodiversity in our estuaries.