Ord Estuary

 

This project forms part of the Ord-Bonaparte Program (OBP), a major research program designed to support sustainable development in the East Kimberley. The project design was developed through two OBP scoping studies conducted in 2001: one to establish a baseline for the estuarine, coastal and marine resources in the Ord/Bonaparte (Volkman and Watson, 2002), and the other to conduct a needs analysis for maintaining healthy waterways in the lower Ord river, Keep river and their estuaries (Parslow and Webster, 2002). One outcome of these scoping studies was the recommendation for a four year integrated study of the response of the lower Ord river and estuary to management of catchment flows and sediment and nutrient loads.

 

Giving funding and resource limitations, it was decided to adopt a staged approach, with the first two year project to focus on the physics and biogeochemistry of the estuary, and its response to catchment flows and loads (Parslow et al., 2003). It was envisaged that this two-year project would provide a platform for subsequent ecological studies, and a direct connection to parallel studies in the catchment and river. Specifically, this project has included the following elements:

  • Refinement of conceptual models of the estuary physics and biogeochemistry;
  • A basic field program, including monthly monitoring of water column variables in the estuary, wet and dry season field campaigns to undertake limited process studies;
  • Implementation and preliminary calibration of hydrodynamic, sediment and biogeochemical process studies.
  • Communication with stakeholders through OBP.

 

The project was designed to complement other research conducted in the Ord river and estuary, and to take advantage of companion studies by WRC, EFI, NPIRD and OBP Project 3.3 on water quality and nutrient and sediment loads in the lower Ord river. Given the detailed studies undertaken by AIMS on effects of changes in river flow on the geomorphology of Ord estuary (Wolanski et al, 2001), this project did not address geomorphology, and included sediment dynamics only as it affected estuarine turbidity, water quality and productivity.

 

Given its challenging scope and location, the project has been undertaken under an extremely compressed time frame. The project started officially in March 2002, and finished in June 2003. During this period, we were able to successfully establish a field program incorporating monthly sampling over 15 months plus two intensive field studies, in an extremely challenging remote location, analyse the results, and incorporate results into sophisticated models, with a project team spread across Kununurra, Canberra and Perth. The success of the project is testament to the hard work and collaboration of the entire team, but the field program in particular was only possible because of the strong support and collaboration of the Water and Rivers Commission staff in Kununurra, and other local stakeholders.

 

References

Parslow, J., Margvelashvili, N., Palmer, D., Revill, A. T., Robson, B., Sakov, P., Volkman, J. K., Watson, R., Webster, I. (2003). The Response of the Lower Ord River and Estuary to Management of Catchment Flows and Sediment and Nutrient Loads. Final Report to Land and Water Australia.

 

Parslow, J. and I. Webster. 2001. Needs analysis for maintaining healthy waterways in the Lower Ord, keep and estuaries. Final report of a scoping study conducted under the auspices of the Ord-Bonaparte Program (OBP Project 3.4/4.2A).

 

Volkman, J and R. Watson. 2002. Scoping study to establish a baseline for physical and biological values of the estuarine, coastal and marine resources in the Ord-Bonaparte. Final report. (OBP Project 4.1A)

 

Wolanski, E., K.Moore, S Spagnol, N.. D’Adamo, C.Pattiiaratchi (2001) “Rapid, human-induced siltation of the macro-tidal Ord River Estuary, Western Australia”, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 53, p. 717-732.