Our water quality monitoring program has shown Kianga Lake have fair water quality. Find out more about the estuary and its unique features.
Kianga Lake is located on the south coast of New South Wales, with the township of Kianga on the southern shoreline. Kianga Lake is classed as a back-dune lagoon with an intermittently closed entrance.
Kianga Creek is the main tributary into the estuary.
As part of our water quality monitoring program we assess the water quality and ecosystem health of an estuary using a range of relevant indicators. We sample a subset of the estuaries between Wollongong and the Victorian border every 3 years. The most recent sampling in Kianga Lake was completed over the 2020–21 summer when 2 sites were sampled on a monthly basis.
This report card represents 2 water quality indicators that we routinely measure: the amount of algae present and water clarity. Low levels of these 2 indicators equate with good water quality.
The report card shows the condition of the estuary was excellent with:
Find out more about our estuary report cards and what each grade means. Read our sampling, data analysis and reporting protocols and find out how we calculate these grades.
We have monitored water quality in Kianga Lake since 2011. This table shows the water quality grades for this estuary over that time.
Grades for algae, water clarity and overall are represented as:
Estuary type: Back-dune lagoon
| Entrance location |
Latitude (ºS) | –36.19 |
|---|---|---|
| Longitude (ºE) | 150.13 | |
| Catchment area (km2) | 7.5 | |
| Estuary area (km2) | 0.2 | |
| Estuary volume (ML) | 62.5 | |
| Average depth (m) | 0.4 | |
Bathymetric and coastal topography data for this estuary are available in our data portal.
The catchment of Kianga Lake is moderately disturbed. Over 70% of the catchment remains forested, located on the outskirts of north Narooma. Urban land use accounts for about 15% of the catchment area, and grazing accounts for 5%.
Local councils manage estuaries within their area unless the estuary is attached to a marine park.
Eurobodalla Shire Council manage this estuary, which is located in Batemans Marine Park.
Kianga Lake is protected as part of Batemans Marine Park and contributes to the unique biodiversity found in the park.
Learn more about the biodiversity in our estuaries.