Compilation of riverine water quality data from the Great Barrier Reef catchment area, northeastern Australia

Cassandra James; Zoe Bainbridge; Stephen Lewis; Celine Clech-Goods; Reinier Mann; Raethea Huggins; David Orr; Kylee Welk; Shuci Liu; Gordon Agnew; Rebecca Bartley; Robert Bramley; Alicia Buckle; Lex Cogle; Matthew Cross; Aaron Davis; Michelle Devlin; Bradley D Eyre; John Faithful; Miles Furnas; Paul Godfrey; Renee Gruber; Aaron Hawdon; Christina Howley; Heather Hunter; Mark Kennard; Emma Laxton; Stephen Mackay; David McJannet; Michael Nash; Dominique O'Brien; Fred Oudyn; Richard Pearson; Ken Rohde; Michelle Tink; Andrew Moss

doi:10.1038/s41597-025-04534-7

Compilation of riverine water quality data from the Great Barrier Reef catchment area, northeastern Australia

Sci Data. 2025 Feb 18;12(1):291. doi: 10.1038/s41597-025-04534-7.

Authors

Cassandra James¹, Zoe Bainbridge², Stephen Lewis², Celine Clech-Goods³, Reinier Mann³, Raethea Huggins³, David Orr³, Kylee Welk³, Shuci Liu⁴, Gordon Agnew⁵, Rebecca Bartley⁶, Robert Bramley⁷, Alicia Buckle⁸, Lex Cogle⁹, Matthew Cross¹⁰, Aaron Davis², Michelle Devlin¹¹, Bradley D Eyre¹², John Faithful¹³, Miles Furnas¹⁴, Paul Godfrey¹⁵, Renee Gruber¹⁴, Aaron Hawdon¹⁶, Christina Howley¹⁷, Heather Hunter^{15

18}, Mark Kennard¹⁹, Emma Laxton²⁰, Stephen Mackay¹⁵, David McJannet⁶, Michael Nash²¹, Dominique O'Brien², Fred Oudyn²², Richard Pearson², Ken Rohde²³, Michelle Tink²⁴, Andrew Moss²⁵

Affiliations

¹ Catchment to Reef Research Group, TropWATER, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia. Cassandra.James@jcu.edu.au.
² Catchment to Reef Research Group, TropWATER, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia.
³ Water Quality and Investigations (Science Division), Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation, Brisbane, Australia.
⁴ Water and Catchments (Science Division), Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation, Brisbane, Australia.
⁵ Waterways and Catchment Management Team, Sunshine Coast Council, Nambour, Australia.
⁶ CSIRO Environment, Brisbane, Australia.
⁷ CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Adelaide, Australia.
⁸ Terrain Natural Resource Management, Innisfail, Australia.
⁹ Formerly Department of Natural Resources and Management, Mareeba, Australia.
¹⁰ Inorganic Chemistry, Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services, Brisbane, Australia.
¹¹ Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33, UK.
¹² Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Southern Cross University, Lismore, Australia.
¹³ Formerly JCU TropWATER; now WSP Australia P/L, Townsville, Australia.
¹⁴ Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Australia.
¹⁵ Formerly Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.
¹⁶ CSIRO Environment, Townsville, Australia.
¹⁷ Howley Environmental Consulting, Cooktown, Australia.
¹⁸ Formerly Department of Environment and Resource Management, Brisbane, Australia.
¹⁹ Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.
²⁰ J.H. & E.S. Laxton - Environmental Consultants, Sydney, Australia.
²¹ Formerly Terrain NRM; Aquasea Enterprises, Ingham, Australia.
²² Chemistry Centre, Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation, Brisbane, Australia.
²³ Water & Catchments - Science Division, Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation, Mackay, Australia.
²⁴ TropWATER Laboratory, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia.
²⁵ Aquatic Ecosystem Health (Science Division), Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation, Brisbane, Australia.

Abstract

This manuscript describes the collation of available water quality data from the freshwater reaches of surface streams within the Great Barrier Reef catchment area, northeastern Australia. This compilation represents one of the most comprehensive online datasets for historical tropical and subtropical freshwater quality around the world. We document the criteria for selection of the data and associated publications as well as the processes of data cleaning used to produce a qualitative assessment of the datasets. The final compilation includes 41 individual datasets that collectively report 466 sites and contain over 26,000 discrete water quality sample records totaling more than 350,000 unique water quality results. Finally, we outline the nuances of the data that end users need to take into account when combining them for spatial and temporal analyses. The dataset ensures that these valuable water quality data collected over the past four decades are preserved for the next generations of researchers, practitioners, management agencies and policy makers.