It should be noted that this data is now somwhat dated!
Nutrients can enter streams from point, diffuse from various extensive land-
uses or natural sources. In this indicator only industrial point sources
(mines, quarries and chemical plants) and intensive agricultural production
and urban point sources (abattoirs, dairy, livestock production, sewerage) are
considered. The Wild Rivers data set (Environment Australia) includes national
data on point sources of pollution (1:250K).
This data set can be separated into industrial (mines, quarries, chemical)
point sources and nutrient point sources (abattoirs, dairy, livestock
production, sewage). These data were obtained from state and federal sources
and much of the contaminated sites, chemical pollution and nutrient pollution
data are far from comprehensive (i.e. available for NSW, Victoria and SA
only).
Reliability of the available data is good, but the data set is incomplete.
Only nutrient point source data is used in this indicator. The density of
nutrient point sources is not an unequivocal indicator of excessive nutrient
levels in nearby waterways, since diffuse agricultural sources and natural
sources are not included. As for the industrial point sources, there is no
distinction made between types of nutrients exported, discharge magnitude and
frequency, existing environmental safe guards and proximity to stream network.
Interpretation is also confounded by the incompletedness of the data set. At
best, this is an indicator of nutrient hazard. It has not been validated
against the assessment question. The 500 and AWRC maps give a similar picture,
with the major point sources located in the Murray-Darling Basin and central
Victoria. The Bunyip, Moorabool, Kiewa and Ovens Rivers in Victoria, the Namoi
River in NSW and the Torrens River in South Australia have a notably high
nutrient point source hazard.
Data are available as:
See [further metadata](http://data.daff.gov.au/anrdl/metadata_files/pa_iccilr9ab
__06321axx.xml) for more detail.