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Almost a quarter of the state\u2019s favourite swimming spots have been found to have been polluted by heavy rains over the past year as the nation braces for a long and hot El Nino summer.<\/p>\n
Worst hit were estuaries, lakes and lagoons \u2013 which collect large amounts of runoff \u2013 but even Coogee Beach, Rose Bay Beach and Gymea Bay Baths were found to have seen poor water quality, the annual State of the Beaches report shows.<\/p>\n
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Foreshore Beach, in Botany Bay, is among the poor quality swimming spots around the state.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Flavio Brancaleone<\/cite><\/p>\n The report, released by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment, shows that for 2022-23 \u201cpoor\u201d or \u201cvery poor\u201d water quality increased by 36 per cent than the previous year. Most of these locations were on freshwater, estuarine beaches and lake sites.<\/p>\n The biggest driver of declining water conditions was rainfall \u2013 and NSW received more than its fair share last year. During 2022, the state received 55 per cent more rain than its yearly average, making it the second-wettest year on record.<\/p>\n The Northern Rivers region, parts of the Central West, the Riverina and coastal areas around the Illawarra and Sydney had their highest annual rainfall on record, which is reflected in these areas\u2019 poor water quality results.<\/p>\n Five freshwater sites, including the Never Never River on the mid-north coast and Wentworth Falls Lake in western Sydney, were included in the report for the first time, and received the lowest health score.<\/p>\n Professor of civil and environmental engineering Stuart Khan, of the University of NSW, said this shows there\u2019s a greater need to collect this type of data, given the number of people who swim in the area.<\/p>\n Narrabeen Lagoon, Northbridge Baths and Davidson Reserve were among some of Sydney\u2019s swimming spots that received poor health scores. <\/strong><\/p>\n Director of the Centre for Ecosystem Science, Professor Richard Kingsford, said when there are big rainfall events or floods, more sediment, nutrients and pollution flows into estuaries and lakes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is part of it is a natural process \u2013 estuaries have a major run-off disturbance which can have ecological impacts on native vegetation and fish because it changes water chemistry from salty to much more fresh water,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s swings and roundabouts, but it can have good nutrient productivity in the future for estuaries.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIncreasingly, around the world, urban rivers have a problem with pharmaceutical run off that\u2019s making its way into river systems and affecting the whole life history of some of the animals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n If the latter was involved, Kingsford suggested that this needed to be addressed or it would continue to impact waterways, making them worse and worse, despite weather patterns.<\/p>\n But the picture for the state\u2019s beaches looks brighter: 96 per cent of monitored beaches have excellent water quality.<\/p>\n Four ocean beaches were upgraded to \u201cvery good\u201d, including Fingal Bay and South Stockton Beach in the Hunter Region, and Malua Bay on the South Coast.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, five beaches have been graded as poor, including Malabar Beach, which takes longer to recover from stormwater events than surrounding areas, and Coogee Beach, where work is progressing to improve stormwater diversion.<\/p>\n Khan added that Coogee is usually a good barometer of how ocean beaches are faring because it is often borderline in terms of the number of days with high bacterial counts, allowing it to flip between good and poor.<\/p>\n \u201cSince the main source of bacterial contamination is stormwater, and stormwater has a bigger impact during wet weather, the likelihood of a \u2018poor\u2019 rating in any year correlates with the number of rainy days over the last couple of years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Khan added it was good advice for swimmers to stay clear of ocean beaches up to one day after rainfall, or if there were signs of stormwater pollution.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing into an El Nino period, as we are now, will likely lead to better recreational water quality ratings. This can give the impression that management of the beaches has improved, but that\u2019s largely an illusion, since it is mostly an artefact of changed weather conditions,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n NSW Minister for the Environment Penny Sharpe said it was good to see most of the state\u2019s beaches had excellent water quality ahead of the swimming season.<\/p>\n She urged swimmers to check the Beachwatch website for real-time information about local swimming conditions.<\/p>\n