The Technical Report on this page presents the data collation and analysis behind the 2023 Townsville Dry Tropics Waterways Report Card.
PART 1: Executive Summary
PART 2: Climate and Land Use
PART 3: Freshwater Results
PART 4: Estuarine Results
PART 5: Inshore Marine Results
PART 6: Offshore Marine Results
PART 7: Litter Results and References
PART 8: Appendices
Download the entire Technical Report here.
Access the Technical Report Methods here.
About the 2023 Technical Report
Each year, the Dry Tropics Partnership for Healthy Waters gathers and evaluates environmental data from the most reliable and comprehensive sources in our region.
The resulting Technical Report presents an overview of the most recent condition of local waterway environments, based on monitoring data from the previous year. In 2023 the report is based on data collected from July 2021 to June 2022.
The Technical Report behind the Report Card results are reviewed by two independent technical and science panels before being published for free public access and used by decision-makers and community.
Our reporting region
The Partnership’s reporting region is divided into seven unique zones based on waterway types (freshwater, estuarine, inshore marine, and offshore marine), and incorporates all islands within this area, including Magnetic Island and the Palm Island group. Reporting zones are divided into sub-basins where appropriate. Details of the Report Card methodology can be found in the 2021-2022 Technical Report Methods.
Sources of data
The annual Waterways Report Card relies on data from the following sources: Townsville City Council, Port of Townsville Limited, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Department of Environment and Science (DES), Queensland Herbarium, Great Barrier Reef Catchment Loads Monitoring Program (GBR-CLMP), James Cook University (TropWATER), Ornatas, Tangaroa Blue Foundation, ReefCheck Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Queensland Spatial Catalogue.
We thank all Partners for their contributions to the 2023 Technical Report.
Learn about the process behind the Technical Report and Waterways Report Card here.
