Quality of Water

We monitor water quality in two ways:

• Collecting and analysing discrete water samples


• Continuous monitoring

Discrete water samples

To meet different management requirements, the NSW Government conducts water quality investigations. Each investigation produces a separate dataset.

Results from one dataset may not be compatible with results from another. Before making use of discrete sample data, it is important to review the purposes for which the data was originally collected, and determine whether it is fit for use for your purposes.

The first step in publishing discrete sample water quality data on the Internet is limited to advising which data is available.

Use the Water Quality Data Availability Water Quality Data Availability page to search for available results. You can search on the name of a river, water storage, or locality to build a list of sample sites in your area of interest.

When you select a site from the site list, a table lists the water quality determinands analysed for samples collected at the site, and the datasets which contain the results. The number of results shown includes results that have not yet completed or which have failed our quality assurance procedures. (Note that less than 0.1% of results have failed and are not used for any natural resource investigation.)

If data is available at sites in which you have an interest, contact us to see if results can be made available.

Continuous monitoring

Continuous monitoring is undertaken at sites in rivers across NSW. Water quality parameters such as temperature and electrical conductivity are monitored and available with other provisional river data such as water level and flow.