A NSW Government website

Nangudga Lake

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

Nangudga Lake is a small, shallow lagoon located on the south coast of New South Wales. The lake has intermittently open entrance that opens to Handkerchief Beach after significant rainfall events.

Water quality report card

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 Nangudga Lake 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.

D

Algae

D

Water clarity

D

Overall grade

The report card shows the condition of the estuary was poor with:

  • algae abundance graded poor (D)
  • water clarity graded poor (D)
  • overall estuary health graded poor (D).

Grades for algae, water clarity and overall are represented as: 

  • A – excellent 
  • B – good 
  • C – fair 
  • D – poor 
  • E – very poor.

Go to estuary report cards to find out what each grade means, read our sampling, data analysis and reporting protocols, and find out how we calculate these grades.

Local government management

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

Eurobodalla Shire Council(link is external) manages this estuary, which is located in Batemans Marine Park(link is external).

Threatened species

Unique vegetation communities of coastal saltmarsh(link is external) and seagrass(link is external) occur in this estuary.

Read more about the biodiversity in our estuaries.