Water health in freefall

[BAIT_MAN]

Water health in freefall Brian Williams
October 19, 2006 12:00am

BRISBANE'S rivers and creeks are becoming more polluted every year. Seven years of monitoring shows that most of southeast Queensland waterways and Moreton Bay are either not improving or are on a downward spiral due to pollution and drought.

A report card compiled on the waterways' condition has given the Brisbane River estuary a D- rating due to high nutrients, dirty water and low oxygen levels.

Oxley Creek rated an F, Cabbage Tree Creek a D- and Tingalpa Creek a D.

It prompted Di Tarte, director of Healthy Waterways, the scientific group that organises the monitoring, to call for $500 million to be spent repairing waterways over the next five to 10 years.

Ms Tarte said funds should be spent on revegetation, erosion and wetland restoration.

Australian Rivers Institute director Stuart Bunn supported her call, saying less than the price of a cup of coffee per resident was spent maintaining waterways.

Environment Minister Lindy Nelson-Carr conceded the findings were worrying given the area faced unprecedented population growth. But she said the Government had introduced vegetation protection laws and regional planning to sustain the environment.

She called on the rural sector to play a role, saying about 60 per cent of run-off came from upstream farm areas.

Overall, the Healthy Waterways report card gave Brisbane's freshwater streams an F, down from a D- minus last year.

The Redlands catchment to the east, suffering from extensive clearing and development, also rated an F.

Pine Rivers on the city's northside did better with a C, although the North Pine River estuary rated a D.

Upstream at Ipswich, the Bremer River received a D- as did the Lockyer catchment near the Great Dividing Range.

The Upper Brisbane Catchment, where Brisbane's drinking water is sourced for Wivenhoe Dam, dropped from a C- to a D.

The Logan, including Beaudesert, Logan City, Beenleigh and Boonah, was generally in poor condition.

In the residential growth strip between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, the Logan estuary received an F, the lowest it had been rated. Southern Moreton Bay continued to decline.

Estuarine reaches of the Albert River received an F although the Pimpama and Coomera areas of the Gold Coast did better with a C+.

The Noosa River estuary rated an A- and its freshwater catchment a B.

Logan and Albert Rivers Catchment president Andy Grodecki said the findings were disturbing and called for major funding to turn around the decline.

Queensland Conservation Council coordinator Toby Hutcheon called on the Government to protect the health of the Logan and Moreton Bay by scrapping the proposed Wyaralong Dam.

Wildlife Preservation Society Redlands branch spokesman Simon Baltais said the bay's future was in the balance.

"Moreton Bay is an economic powerhouse driven by its natural assets. You fail to protect those assets you risk losing millions of dollars and thousands of jobs," Mr Baltais said.

[seatime]

Could this be an opportunity for the fisho's and conservation groups who are pursuing a common objective, to form a working relationship, on this issue anyway?

A concerted effort in lobbying the Gov't to increase funding will help raise awareness with the public, and boost the chances of the gov't doing something sooner rather than later.

regards

[JasonT]

That's good thinking Gelsec!
So long as the govt doesn't assume that our lobbying in support of this issue will translate into support on closures.
I think Joe Average doesn't really have a clue what's in the pipeline for moreton bay, and anything that will help raise this awareness will get my support!

JT

[redspeckle]

I see it made the front page of this weeks The Redland Times Redlands Waterways Fail Health Test Again Redland Shire's creeks and streams have failed a healthy waterway test for the second year in a row and delivered a F grade as the headlines on front page

I can tell you this year I have reported 3 environmentally spills to the EPA that I found thorough while doing my job some of the business don't give a sh*t about the environment but the hardest thing is try to catch and prove it these business have done it
The thing annoys me is the rec angler gets the blame for fouling up the environment you just have to a have a look at in What Port of Brisbane done by filling in the Bay to make more land this would have an affect of the water currents running in & out of the Brisbane river and so on + plus look at all shopping trolleys dump in creeks and drains
The storm water runoff pipes should be further out in the bay and the water should be treated in someway before its release into the bay

No wonder the Moreton Bay Waterways Report card is no good
Mitch >
(Disclaimer this is my view and not of the TFPQ )

[PADDLES]

it's a worry isn't it. in the one hand they say they are concerned about the state of our rivers and waterways and then they release proposed plans to build an industrial estate and marine industry / marina complex (with all the runoff/pollution that these areas produce) along the southern bank of our river (caboolture) and then dredge the krap out of it destroying everything so deep draught vessels can get in on all tides. you'd think they would have learnt from what the narangba industrial estate's runoff has done to burpengary creek. at least i won't have to worry about hitting sand banks on my way out to the bay any more if it all goes ahead.