2019 Darwin Harbour Report Card - At a glance

In 2019 water quality in Darwin Harbour was excellent overall.

Seven of the nine harbour zones had excellent water quality.

Myrmidon Creek received a good rating, whereas Buffalo Creek Estuary received a poor rating due to wastewater inflow from the Leanyer-Sanderson Wastewater Treatment Plant.

  • No aquatic pests were found in Darwin Harbour for 2019.
  • The beaches were suitable for swimming over the 2019 dry season.
  • Overall the water quality of Darwin Harbour was excellent.

Every year the report card assesses the water quality of the harbour against the guidelines of the Darwin Harbour Water Quality Objectives.

Nine zones represent different physical environments in the harbour, which feature diverse marine life such as seagrass beds, coral reefs and mangroves.

Water quality data for the Darwin Harbour Report Card was collected by the Aquatic Health Unit within the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and supplemented by monitoring data from Power Water Corporation and the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG.

Each region in the harbour was assessed for water quality for the year 2019, and assigned a grade against four key water quality health indicators. These are:

  • algae
  • water clarity
  • dissolved oxygen and
  • nutrients.

Whilst the grades are different for some zones between 2018 and 2019, the long term trend is for water quality to remain much the same.

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