Inland Waters
Page 142
Condition indicators
•
Dry Creek and River Torrens health according to KESAB Community
Monitoring water quality assessment indicators.
•
ANZECC water standards in Port Adelaide Enfield catchments and
wetlands.
•
Stormwater pollution reports received by the City of Port Adelaide Enfield
and EPA.
•
Volume of rubbish removed from stormwater by Gross Pollutant Traps
Pressure indicator
•
KESAB community monitoring number of samples with poor results.
•
Number of samples exceeding water quality ANZECC thresholds for
wetland sites (Refer to ANZECC 2000 Australian Water Quality Guidelines
for Fresh and Marine Waters).
Inland Water - State & Pressures
A ‘catchment’ is defined as an area of land that collects and captures rainfall.
The City of Port Adelaide Enfield contains over twenty separate catchments
made up of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ infrastructure, including natural creeks and artificial
channels that discharge the rainwater to the sea or other water bodies. Not all
rain reaches the sea, much of it evaporates or soaks into the ground for use by
plants, or recharges the groundwater system. The land uses surface coverage
within a catchment influence the amount and quality of water collected.
Generally the overland watercourses in the City of Port Adelaide Enfield consist
of highly modified and engineered urban catchments. Although some of these
are engineered catchments, many have significant environmental features, such
as the Barker Inlet Wetlands, Magazine Creek Wetlands and Range Wetlands
which form a part of the stormwater systems for a number of catchments in the
City.
The two major natural watercourses that intersect the Council area are Dry
Creek and the Torrens River. The Barker Inlet coastal estuary and wetland
system is listed by the Commonwealth as a ‘Wetland of National Importance’ -
information on the Port Adelaide River has been included in the chapter on
Coasts and Estuaries in this Report.
Map 12 (page 193) demonstrates the locations of urban stormwater
catchments, and the location of Dry Creek, Torrens River and all wetland
features. Some of the wetlands featured are not naturally occurring wetlands,
but are engineered retention basins or aquifer storage and recovery (ASR)
systems.
