Freshwater

Freshwater Basins Across the Region

The environmental health of the Wet Tropics freshwater basins is assessed on water quality, habitat and hydrology, and fish. For 2018-19 scores and grades are provided where data is available. The fish index will be available for more basins in the next Report Card in 2021.

Overall grades are provided for all nine basins in the Wet Tropics region - the Daintree, Mossman, Barron, Mulgrave, Russell, Johnstone, Tully, Murray and Herbert. Most are graded B (good) except for the Daintree which was graded A (very good) and the Murray and Herbert which were graded C (moderate).

Annual rainfall was extremely variable in 2018-19 ranging from below average to very much above average across the region. Monthly rainfall ranged from the lowest on record (Herbert) to the highest on record (Daintree). Rainfall in all basins was well above the average during December 2018 and this continued into January for most basins.

Large flood events caused significant damage to riverbanks in some waterways. This was most pronounced for the Daintree and Mossman basins.

 

Freshwater

indicators and confidence

freshwaterlegend

Grading

gradesa1

very good

gradesb1

good

gradesc1

moderate

gradesd1

poor

gradese1

very poor

insufficient data

Confidence surrounding the data used in the coasters has been assessed using a multi-criteria framework.

confidence

Environmental results

click on the grades for more information about each zone

 

See the detailed reports for further information on the methods used to produce the scores and grades and detailed results.