Water quality, plume modelling and tracking before and during dredging in Mermaid Sound, Dampier W.A.

A water quality monitoring program established to coincide with the Mermaid Sound dredging projects in 2004 for assessed turbidity, suspended sediments and other parameters (Dissolved Oxygen, pH, Temperature, Salinity) every three days to start then weekly.

To assist in locating monitoring sites - a model of sediment transport was developed. Also throughout the dredging program aerial surveys of the dredging location, monitoring locations and surrounding areas were undertaken on a weekly basis. They were flown of the same day as the water monitoring trip to allow for cross-referencing of visual observations and actual data.