Darwin Harbour Report Card 2016

2016 Overview

Download the 2016 summary

Water Quality Monitoring in Darwin Harbour

Every year the Darwin Harbour Report Card assesses the water quality of Darwin Harbour against the Darwin Harbour Water Quality Objectives.
Water quality data were collected by the Aquatic Health Unit of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and supplemented by monitoring
data from Power Water Corporation and the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG Project.

Nine zones represent different physical environments in the harbour, which feature marine biota such as seagrass beds, coral reefs and mangrove fringes.

The Harbour’s water quality was graded good to excellent in 2016. An exception was Buffalo Creek Estuary, which was impacted mainly by wastewater discharge
from the Leanyer-Sanderson sewage treatment plant.

No marine pests were detected in 2016 and the beaches were suitable for swimming throughout the dry season.