Nerrindillah Creek

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

Nerrindillah Creek, also known as Nerrindillah Lagoon, is classed as an estuarine creek with an intermittently closed entrance. It is located on the south coast of New South Wales.

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

Nerrindillah 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 'poor' giving an overall rating of 'fair' or 'C'.

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 fair (C)
  • 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 Nerrindillah Creek since 2014. This table shows the water quality grades for this estuary over that time.

Nerrindilah Creek 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: Creek

Entrance
location
Latitude (ºS) –35.23
Longitude (ºE) 150.53
Catchment area (km2) 17.2
Estuary area (km2) 0.1
Estuary volume (ML) 23.8
Average depth (m) 0.3
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

Nerrindillah Creek catchment has little disturbance. Over 90% remains forested and is partly located in Conjola National Park. About 5% of land is used for grazing.

National and marine parks

  • Conjola National Park is the largest conservation area in the catchment area for Nerrindillah Creek.
  • There is no marine park associated with this estuary.

Citizen science

Nerrindillah Creek

Local government management

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

Shoalhaven City Council manage this estuary.