Pambula River

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

Pambula River is located on the far south coast of New South. This estuary is classed as a barrier river and flows into the southern end of Merimbula Bay at Pambula Beach.

The estuary supports a range of recreational and commercial uses, yet retains a range of near-pristine habitats including nationally recognised wetlands.

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 the Pambula River was completed over the 2017–18 summer when 2 sites were sampled on a monthly basis.

Pambula River 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 '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 (B)
  • water clarity graded (A)
  • overall estuary health graded (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 Pambula River since 2008. This table shows the water quality grades for this estuary over that time.

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) –36.95
Longitude (ºE) 149.92
Catchment area (km2) 296.5
Estuary area (km2) 4.7
Estuary volume (ML) 9773.7
Average depth (m) 2.2

Tidal prism

Tidal prism data is available for this estuary. This tidal prism was measured in 1979. 

Tide state Flow
(106 m3)		 Local tidal
range (m)		 Sydney Harbour
tidal range (m)
Ebb flow 2.51 0.91 1.35
Flood flow 3.41 1.16 1.58
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 Pambula River is slightly disturbed. Grazing and urban areas constitute less than 20% of the catchment, including the township of Pambula, and 80% remains forested including areas within South East Forests National Park and Ben Boyd National Park.

National and marine parks

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. More information about can be found on the council’s Estuary management webpage.