The Barron Basin has an area of 2189 km2 with Mareeba and Atherton as the main population centres.

    The basin consists of 29% natural/minimal use lands, 31% grazing, 18% forestry, 8% other crops (including bananas), 3% sugarcane, 3% dairy, 5% urban and 4% other land uses.

    The Barron River is the most modified river in the Wet Tropics region and is heavily regulated by water supply infrastructure.

    The basin has a large upper catchment on the Tablelands and a smaller lower catchment north of Cairns where it discharges into Trinity Bay.

    A major dam is situated at Tinaroo Falls at the northern end of Lake Tinaroo. The Barron River is a strong story place for Aboriginal custodians.

    The Barron Basin grade has remained ‘moderate’ in 2022-23 whilst the score declined from 56 to 52.

    Key results

    • During 2022-23 the Barron water quality site monitoring site at Myola had 290 days of the year above the base-flow threshold (8.2 m3/s).
    • Nutrients declined from ‘good’ to ‘moderate’ with both dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and filterable reactive phosphorus (FRP) declining substantially in score.

    The diagram below shows the detailed results for each indicator by year. Click on the timeslider to see data from previous years.

    Further Information

    For a detailed breakdown of the results and trends, visit the results dashboard or read the methods and results technical reports.