Point Sturt and Districts Landcare Group Inc: Lake Alexandrina, north of Point Sturt
Bottle number: 116
About the water
Photo: Bruce Allnutt.
Collected at: Lake Alexandrina, on the Northern shore of the Point Sturt Peninsular, South Australia
E: 321184, N: 6070294, Zone 54
Collected by: Point Sturt and Districts Landcare Group Inc.
The site is owned by the Chairman of the Point Sturt and Districts Inc. Landcare Group.
Water quality:
| Turbidity: | NTU ~ 35 |
| pH: | 8.5 |
| Nitrates: | less than 0.5mg/L |
| Salinity: | 5850µS/cm |
| Phosphates: | 0.5mg/L |
| Dissolved oxygen: | 6.2mg/L |
About the site
The site is adjacent to a Lake Alexandrina lakeshore cattle grazing property of very many years. This property is unimproved pasture, and the cattle have access to the lake water for drinking. As the water has receded, the water laps potentially acidic, and acidic lakeshore sands, instead of a grassy verge to the edge of the lake as was previously the case.
What's going on:
Receding waters of Lake Alexandrina are exposing potentially acid sulphate soils to the atmosphere. These are becoming acidic, with patches of sulphur becoming apparent. As over allocation of the River Murray's waters continues, and there is no adequate mechanism for allocating water for environmental requirements, and end of system flows in the National Water Initiative document, Lake Alexandrina is also becoming increasingly saline.
Acid Sulphate soil and water testing.