Part 1. Divide the Available Phosphate Result by 3.06

Firstly, you need to divide your Available Phosphate result by 3.06.

Part 2. Manually Calculate %Sat of D.O. (if you haven’t uploaded the data yet)

If you have uploaded your data to the NSW Waterwatch database, your Dissolved Oxygen mg/L and Water Temperature data will automatically be converted to Dissolved Oxygen %sat upon upload. However, if you haven’t yet uploaded your data but are keen to interpret your results straight away, you can also manually calculate Dissolved Oxygen %sat using the method below.

1. Plot temperate on upper scale.

2. Plot oxygen concentration on lower scale.

3. Hold a ruler between the two points.

4. The point where the ruler crosses the middle scale is the % saturation

5. Record this result on your test results sheet.

Part 3. Use the Interpretation Table

Your results will vary

The phosphate levels can vary a lot, especially after rain are likely to see an increase.

Dissolved oxygen levels vary with temperature and time of day, thus the importance of trying to test at approximately the same time each month.

Our Interpretation Table

We use the data interpretation table shown below to interpret our results, created by Adrian Dickson and Nakia Belmer, from the NSW Department of Planning and Environment Science Division. This table is derived from the ANZECC Water Quality Guidelines.

Important - We use only this table to interpret our data, not any former tables.

A laminated copy of this table is kept in all kits at the back of your results sheets clipboard and is also found at :

www.ozgreen.org/br_interpretation

Part 4. Compare with historical data

Our interpreted data can be found at:

www.ozgreen.org/br_data

Click on your site.

The graphs below show our full dataset for each parameter to date against the ‘Very Good’, ‘Good’, ‘Fair’, ‘Poor’ and ‘Very Poor’ bands (except water and air temperature for all sites, and turbidity and EC for estuarine sites).

Click on the links below the graphs to view an interactive graph where you can explore each datapoint.

View Data Interpretation Table