EstuaryWatch Data Portal

New volunteer Jim... was present but his name is not on the database

For some reason, I was unable to calibrate the HACH meter. The option to check standard for LDO101 would not highlight. I turned the meter off numerous times but got the same result. I did check its accuracy by comparing a result of 1413 micro Siemens/cm against the analytical reagent of 1376. Assuming this result was in the ball park, we went ahead with monitoring.
Four fishermen on the jetty - beautiful, still morning.

Sand build up on Ocean Grove side of estuary

We were not able to calibrate the Ph as tube of test liquid was empty. Consequently,  we used Ph strips from the kit.

Very windy.

Choppy seas.

Only one observation completed on this day as the weather turned nasty.

Observations were taken at South end of jetty.

Strong current caused weights and probevto drift

Maintenance crew on pier.

EC reading did not stabilise at depths 0.1m -1.5m, so estimated.

EC reading stabilised at depth 2.0m

No data sheets - made do based off memory. 

Very choppy sea. Wind from the south.

Tide coming in.

Turbidity less than 9

Very strong outgoing tide, so consequently hard to measure depths.

pH measured using litmus paper as meter couldn't be calibrated.

pH meter would not calibrate (Error4 message) - instead we used the pH paper kit.

Intro to EstuaryWatch with Fed Uni TAFE students

NB; There was some discrepancy between the pH on the meter and with Litmus paper: Top Depth 6.7, Litmus 8: Bottom Depth 6.6, Litmus 8.

Depth at gauge board was 3m

The river was very muddy and ebbing very quickly.

The river was in flood.

The EC measurements had to be estimated as the readings on the Hach meter would not stabilise.

Wind direction - S/SW

Beaufort Number - Fresh, 4-5

Sea state - rough to very rough

EC readings would not stabilise. We took the average of the range.

While water appears cleaner than four days ago, it was still very brown and murky. There was no apparent debris.

The speed of the water flow made it difficult to get accurate depth readings.

NB: Tom was also sampling.

Hach meter took a long while to stabilise on the EC reading.

Water discoloured - very brown

Water sampled and tested at southern end of jetty due to fast current moving the probe

The probes were swept away from the jetty by the fast-flowing current so monitoring was done the at southern end of jetty

Tide flooding.

NB. Jess Coxon helped with sampling.

Fast flowing current made it difficult to collect a  'bottom' sample.

Observations done at southern end of jetty

Tide coming in.

Samples taken from north end of jetty due to strong easterly wind

The 50cm markers of the depth monitor need adjusting.

Turbidity was les than 9 on top and bottom.

We did not do monitoring at B2 (fisherman jetty) and B5 (Taits Point) as the water appeared very dirty due to sewerage discharge into the river as a result of the Barwon Heads sewer system failure event requiring emergency work by Barwon Water over the past few days. We considered the state of the water to be a potential Health and Safety issue.

Water colour very brown due to run off after heavy rain earlier in the week.

White foam forming along water line.

Further sites not visited on day as Carol finished at 10.00 and Ann reluctant to test at Boat Ramp jetty occupied by many fishermen (not regulars).

Water very brown. Lots of heavy rain in the otways recently