Monthly Estuarine Water Quality Measurements from Mackay-Whitsunday

This dataset comprises monthly water quality measurements collected since 2014 from estuarine monitoring sites across nine estuaries in four basins. It includes chemical, physical, and biological parameters such as Secchi depth, Chlorophyll-a, Dissolved Oxygen, pH, Salinity, Temperature, Turbidity, and nutrient concentrations. The data supports environmental reporting and trend assessment for the Mackay-Whitsunday-Isaac region.

Use Cases

• Analyze long-term trends in Chlorophyll-a and nutrient parameters (Ammonia, Total Nitrogen, Total Phosphorus) to assess eutrophication risks in estuarine systems.
• Model relationships between physicochemical parameters like Dissolved Oxygen, Temperature, and Salinity to understand estuarine stratification and water column dynamics.
• Use Secchi depth and Turbidity measurements to develop water clarity indices for environmental health reporting across the nine monitored estuaries.
• Correlate nutrient levels (Filterable Reactive Phosphorus, Nitrogen Oxides) with Chlorophyll-a to study algal biomass drivers in the Mackay-Whitsunday region.

Strengths

• Monthly sampling frequency provides consistent temporal resolution for time-series analysis since 2014.
• Data includes a wide range of measured parameters covering biological (Chlorophyll-a), chemical (nutrients), and physical (Temperature, Salinity) water quality aspects.
• Geographic coverage spans nine estuaries across four major basins (Proserpine, O’Connell, Pioneer, Plane) in the Mackay-Whitsunday region.

Limitations

• The specific number of rows (measurement records) and columns (features) is not provided, limiting precise assessment of dataset scale.
• Monitoring is primarily in tidal estuarine and sheltered coastal waters, with limited freshwater site coverage, which may restrict analysis of upstream influences.
• Data is provided in XLSX format, which may require conversion for programmatic analysis and lacks a defined schema or column list.

Provenance

Source

Department of the Environment, Science and Tourism (DETSI) and predecessor organisations, in partnership with Traditional Owners and the Healthy Rivers Partnership.

Collection Method

Monthly sampling at fixed sites using laboratory analyses and in situ measurement instruments from drifting boats or bankside.

Time Range

Since 2014.

Freshness

Monthly monitoring; dataset metadata last updated March 2026.

Geography

Nine estuaries within the Proserpine, O’Connell, Pioneer, and Plane basins in the Mackay-Whitsunday region, Queensland, Australia.