The biological condition of Cox’s Creek and Cox’s Rivulet: November 2004. Report to Dorset Council.

Abstract

The condition of Cox’s Creek and Cox’s Rivulet downstream of the Scottsdale WWTP discharge was assessed by Davies and Cook (2002) conducting a biological survey of aquatic macroinvertebrates in early November 2002. That survey was designed to provide a picture of the condition of the receiving streams for the Scottsdale WWTP discharges in comparison with state-wide standards derived from a large database of minimally polluted reference sites. Four other local reference stream sites were also sampled for comparison, in Hurst Creek and Tuckers Rivulet. The survey indicated that the upper reaches of Cox’s Creek and Rivulet downstream of the WWTP discharge were in very poor condition, with severely depleted macroinvertebrate assemblages dominated by forms tolerant of organic pollution (e.g. worms, chironomid midges). The survey was repeated in November 2004, following substantial change to the nature of the Scottsdale WWTP discharge after the closure of the Simplot factory, whose wastewater was discharged via the WWTP. As in the 2002 survey, macroinvertebrate samples were collected using a standard kick sampling technique. However, fish populations were sampled at several sites for the first time in 2004.