Lake Arragan

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

Lake Arragan is located within Yuraygir National Park on the north coast of New South Wales. The estuary is classed as a lake with an intermittently closed entrance.

Lake Arragan has been recognised as a near-pristine estuary and its ecological and recreational value is valued by visitors to the camping area adjacent to the entrance.

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 located between the Queensland border and Taree every 3 years. The most recent sampling in Lake Arragan was completed over the 2021–22 summer when 2 sites were sampled on a monthly basis.

Lake Arragan 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 'fair' 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 excellent (A)
  • water clarity graded fair (C)
  • 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 Lake Arragan since 2009. This table shows the water quality grades for this estuary over that time.

Lake Arragan historic water quality grades from 2009-10 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: Lake

Entrance
location 		Latitude (ºS) –29.57
Longitude (ºE) 153.34
Catchment area (km2) 9.3
Estuary area (km2) 1
Estuary volume (ML) 813.7
Average depth (m) 0.8
Notes: km2 = square kilometres; m = metres; m3 = cubic 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 Lake Arragan remains virtually undisturbed and completely forested within Yuraygir National Park.

National and marine parks

  • Lake Arragan is located within Yuraygir National Park.
  • There are no marine parks associated with this estuary.
Lake Arragan

Local government management

Local councils manage estuaries within their area unless the estuary is attached to a marine park. Clarence Valley Council manage this estuary.