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2. Keep watch

Overview

A Riverwatch water monitoring program will help us measure changes in water quality over time, protect existing swimming spots, open new swimming sites and understand what makes water quality change over time.

The Riverwatch Program is assessing the microbial and chemical contaminants in the water and sediment at each of the five highest priority proposed swimming sites. The combined monitoring will inform what sort of activities will be possible at each site, such as swimming and boating, and under what conditions.

Recommendation

Agree and progress the establishment of the Riverwatch monitoring program for the Parramatta River.

Timeframe

Now.

Lead Agency

Sydney Water.

Current Measure

Number of swim sites being monitored – existing, priority, future swim sites.

Status	Swimming Site	Manager	Water Quality Monitoring	Results of monitoring
Existing	Cabarita Park beach	City of Canada Bay	Beachwatch	Grading Good*
Existing	Chiswick Baths	City of Canada Bay	Beachwatch	Grading Good*
Existing	Dawn Fraser Baths	Inner West Council	Beachwatch	Grading Good*
Existing	Lake Parramatta	City of Parramatta	City of Parramatta	Advisory
Priority for activation	Bayview Park	City of Canada Bay	Sydney Water	TBA – Not enough data collected to determine suitability. View Bayview Park Water Quality Results
Future site	Bedlam Bay	Hunter’s Hill Council	Sydney Water	TBA – Not enough data collected to determine suitability. View Bedlam Bay Water Quality Results
Priority for activation	McIlwaine Park	City of Canada Bay	Sydney Water	TBA – Not enough data collected to determine suitability. View McIlwaine Park Water Quality Results
Priority for activation	Putney Park	City of Ryde	Sydney Water	TBA – Not enough data collected to determine suitability. View Putney Park Water Quality Results
Future site	Callan Park	Inner West Council	Beachwatch	TBA – Not enough data collected to determine suitability.

*TBA – To be advised. Not enough water quality data has been collected (before December 2020) and assessed in conjunction with sanitary inspections to develop a suitability grade. Raw data for each of these sites is available on request.

Beachwatch publishes an annual NSW State of the Beaches Report. This report rates each monitored location from Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor and Very Poor. All three existing sites monitored by Beachwatch are rated good and this has not changed in recent years. They define good as ‘Location has generally good microbial water quality and water is considered suitable for swimming most of the time. Swimming should be avoided during and for up to one day following heavy rain at ocean beaches and up to three days at estuarine sites’.

Status Update

Assessing recreational water quality in the Parramatta River is an important step in delivering the Parramatta River Masterplan. The Riverwatch microbial monitoring program assesses how microbial contaminants impact water quality in the Parramatta River. Along with the Riverwatch chemical assessment program, it helps inform decisions about proposed swimming sites along the river.

	Microbial monitoring	Sanitary (site) inspection	Chemical assessment	Site safety risk assessment
Putney Park	Ongoing	Completed	Initiated	Not started
McIlwaine Park	Ongoing	Completed	Completed	Not started
Bayview Park	Ongoing	Completed	Completed	Not started
Callan Park (additional site)	Ongoing	Completed	In progress	Not started
Bedlam Bay	Ongoing	Completed	Not started	Not started

Microbial Monitoring Program

The Microbial Monitoring Program follows the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Guidelines for Managing Risks in Recreational Waters. It is aligned with similar recreational water quality monitoring programs such as Beachwatch, to maintain a consistent approach across Sydney.

We undertake routine, regular monitoring of the sites and also targeted sampling, for example, after rainfall, to determine the individual site’s recovery time. We measure a number of parameters but, most importantly for swimming, we are looking at enterococci. These bacteria are excreted in faeces and are rarely present in unpolluted waters. Enterococci have shown a clear dose-response relationship to disease in humans.

Download the latest Riverwatch Microbial Monitoring Program fact sheet.

Chemical Assessment Program

Previous sediment and water quality monitoring within the river and a review of historic land uses near proposed swimming sites helps us to identify potential chemical contaminants of concern for recreational water users. These include heavy metals, dioxins, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), surfactants and pesticides.

The Riverwatch chemical assessment program evaluates how chemical contaminants impact river sediment and water quality in the Parramatta River. EnRisk is working with experts at Sydney Water, NSW Health, the Environment Protection Authority, Department of Planning Industry & Environment and councils to develop the framework for the chemical assessment program.

The team is applying enHealth’s Environmental Health Risk Assessment: Guidelines for assessing human health risks from environmental hazards to identify chemical contaminants of concern, understand toxicity and develop an exposure assessment for recreational water activities. This information will advise the sampling program and help us to understand any potential risks that may arise from future recreation activities along the River.

Download the Riverwatch Chemical Assessment Program fact sheet.

Conceptual Model

The Parramatta River Conceptual Model is a simplified representation of the real world which captures and integrates relevant scientific and other knowledge into a visual form to simplify communication between a variety of people. The conceptual model is divided into dry weather and wet weather that are the two dominant states which affect water quality in the Parramatta River. The round, break-out images relate to the main picture and highlight the key areas that affect water quality and swimmability in the Parramatta River.

View the Parramatta River Conceptual Models.

Progress Timeline

April – June 2021

Intensive water quality monitoring occurring to provide data for predictive model on wet weather impacts and recovery.
Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) for Callan Park, Bayview Park and McIlwaine Park completed.
Updated interactive map complete and will be transferred to site two weeks prior to first site activation.

January – March 2021

Intensive water quality monitoring occurring to provide data for predictive model on wet weather impacts and recovery.
Results of microbial source tracking not showing human markers in samples.
HHRA for Callan Park completed. Based on swim site design, there are no issues of concern.

October – December 2020

City of Ryde has confirmed $37k funding to complete a Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA).
Hunter’s Hill Council added Bedlam Bay to the list of priority swim sites.
Four priority swimming sites currently being monitored on a weekly basis.
Hunter’s Hill, City of Canada Bay and Inner West Councils have engaged EnRiskS/Geochemical Assessments to conduct HHRA.
Microbial Source Tracking – some samples assessed.
Riverwatch interactive map completed and will be launched in early 2020 prior to the opening of the Bayview Park swim site.
Dawn Fraser Baths predictive water quality model completed.
Dan Bradley from Sydney Water presented on Riverwatch at the Riverfest 2020 webinar on Swimming in the Parramatta River.

July – September 2020

Progressed development of a Riverwatch page on the Our Living River website, allowing us to inform the community when a site is suitable for swimming. The page will be launched in October 2020.
Developed branding for communication and marketing of the Riverwatch program.
Engaged EnRisk to complete the Human Health Risk Assessment for Bayview Park and McIlwaine Park.
Commenced microbial source tracking in July to identify source of microbial contaminants in river.

April – June 2020

EnRisk has developed a Human Health Risk Assessment Framework that has been approved by NSW Health, DPIE EES and the swim site activation technical working group. This will allow us to commence the chemical sampling for the next three priority sites.
Engaged a web developer to create a Riverwatch page on the Our Living River site which will allow us to inform the community when a site is suitable for swimming.
Developing branding for communication and marketing of the Riverwatch program.

January – March 2020

Target microbial monitoring program (regular monitoring ongoing) at the three sites has been completed.
MOU with UNSW established to develop a predictive model and commenced analysis of water quality data.
Work with Digital Business Department within Sydney Water has commenced to build stage one of the website.

October 2019 – December 2019

Water quality monitoring for microbial contaminants (e.g. enterococci) is continuing for Putney Park, McIlwaine Park and Bayview Park (new swimming sites). So far water quality is good during dry weather and recovery after rain is between 2-3 days depending on rainfall.
UNSW provided results from chemical analysis of water and sediments at Callan Park. These will be reviewed by NSW health, EPA, OEH and Inner West Council.
UNSW is developing a proposal to undertake the chemical analysis for the three new swim sites following a similar process at Callan Park.
Planning commenced on developing an external facing website to clearly communicate the Riverwatch program and progress towards swimming in the River.

July 2019 – September 2019

Pictorial conceptual model completed for Parramatta River to illustrate the current understanding of contaminants and exposure pathways in the Parramatta River (to be presented at meeting).
Water quality monitoring for microbial contaminants (i.e. enterococci) commenced for Putney Park, McIlwaine Park and Bayview Park swimming sites.
Riverwatch program fact sheets developed.
UNSW analysing results from chemical analysis of water and sediments at Callan Park.

April 2019 – June 2019

Beachwatch monitoring is ongoing at Callan Park.
Sanitary inspection of Callan Park completed.
Chemical analysis of water and sediments at Callan Park has commenced.
Pictorial conceptual model is being prepared for Parramatta River to illustrate the current understanding of contaminants and exposure pathways in the Parramatta River.
Water quality monitoring plan under development for new swim sites at Putney Park, McIlwaine Park and Bayview Park.

Useful Links

Beachwatch