NSW Department of Environment's report on Eurobodalla's beaches

The report covered Cookies Beach, Caseys Beach, Surf Beach, Malua Bay Beach, Broulee Beach, South Broulee (Bengello) Beach, Shelley Beach (Moruya Heads), Tuross Main Beach, Wagonga Inlet and Narooma Main Beach.

Of those, four beaches got the top rating of very good: Cookies, Malua Bay, South Broulee and Brou.

Those sites had excellent water quality and were suitable for swimming almost all of the time.

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Six were rated good: Caseys, Broulee, Shelley, Tuross Main, Wagonga Inlet and Narooma Main.

That means their water quality was frequently suitable for swimming during dry weather conditions but elevated enterococci levels sometimes exceeded the safe swimming limit following rain.

Casey Beach was upgraded from poor in 2021/22.

As a general precaution, swimming should be avoided during and for at least one day after heavy rain and for up to three days in estuarine areas like Wagonga Inlet.

Avoid swimming if there are signs of stormwater pollution like discoloured water or floating debris.

Surf Beach was again rated poor.

Elevated bacterial levels were recorded during dry weather conditions and increased after rainfall.

However, 68 percent of dry weather samples were within the safe swimming limit.

Council has been investigating the beach's water quality since 2019 as microbial water quality has continued to decline for several years.

Dye testing showed there was no contamination from the new toilet block adjacent to Surf Beach Creek.

Council is liaising with CSIRO to conduct genetic analysis of samples to identify if the faecal contamination identified is human or animal.

Samples were collected weekly between November and March, with sampling and analysis fully funded by the council.

Recreational water quality has been monitored by Eurobodalla Shire Council since 2002 under the Department of Planning and Environment's Beachwatch Partnership program.

Swimming sites in NSW are graded as very good, good, fair, poor, or very poor in accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council's 2008 Guidelines for Managing Risks in Recreational Waters.

The beach suitability grades provide a long-term assessment of how suitable a beach is for swimming.

Rainfall is the major driver of pollution to recreational waters, generating stormwater runoff and triggering untreated discharges from the wastewater treatment and transport systems.

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