Assessing the water quality of Suva foreshore for the establishment of estuary and marine recreational water guidelines in the Fiji Islands

Abstract

The Standards for water quality in Fiji defined in the Environment Management Regulations (2007) only relate to effluent discharge into the environment. Urbanisation is contributing to wastewater contamination in receiving estuary and marine recreational waters, thus requiring specific guidelines. To create a baseline for this, a sampling programme with relevant physico-chemical and biological parameters was implemented at 3 sites along the Suva foreshore, for 8 consecutive months, during low and high tides. Analysis was done in triplicates, using standard methods approved for the examination of water and wastewater. In the absence of relevant Fiji guidelines, the results were compared with ANZECC (2000) guidelines for estuary and marine waters. Low DO levels, high COD, TN, NH3, TP, OP and heavy metal concentrations were measured in all 3 sites. For instance, TN and NH3 concentrations as high as 4.44 ±0.99 mg/L and 2.58 ± 0.89 mg/L respectively were recorded in Wailea river (Site 2). The colony counts for the TC, FC and E. coli were in most cases above the limits. These results confirm that wastewater discharges add to the inherent levels of parameters in receiving water bodies and support the need for a specific, robust Fiji standards to better monitor water quality in foreshore areas.

Blue carbon storage in Fijian seagrass meadows: First insights into carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus content from a tropical southwest Pacific Island

“…Results presented here confirm nutrient limitation, on the basis that the nutrient contents reported reflect nutritional conditions at the site of collection and the timing of collection which was during peak seagrass primary production for the region. Additionally, it is worth noting high concentrations of N and P (Table 5) were reported in the water columns at Laucala Bay by Lal et al (2021) suggesting levels being significantly above recommended limits. Furthermore, McKenzie and Yoshida (2020) reported high levels of N in Halodule leaf tissue at Laucala Bay influenced by anthropogenic sources such as septic and treated sewage.…”

“…Water quality datasets were limited by location (e.g., only covering Laucala Bay at Nasese) and are adopted from Lal et al ( 2021) -refer to Table 5. Lal et al (2021) recorded over an 8-month period both spatial and seasonal variations, and compared parameters with guidelines for estuary waters from the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC, 2000). Overall, temperature and pH values were within the acceptable range.…”

“…Comparison of water quality physical parameters and nutrients/organics at My Suva Park at Nasese with the guidelines for estuary waters from ANZECC, 2000. TableadoptedfromLal et al (2021).…”

Algal Organic Matter Fluorescence Analysis of Chlorella sp. for Biomass Estimation

“…The protein-like structures of algae can also be characterized by measuring SUVA 280 . The method performed was based on the characterization of water quality in rivers and estuaries [10,11].…”