Here is another story on the environmental problems facing the Murray-Darling river. It is not sounding good at all. Battery acid levels ?? Say what !
Murray River 'cancer' creeps northward
Pia Akerman
The Australian
.
August 30, 2008
.
THE "cancer" of the Murray -- acid sulphate soils -- has spread to the river system's northern catchments in Queensland where up to 200 sites are under investigation by scientists.
.
The Murray-Darling Basin Commission ordered the investigation in southern Queensland amid mounting evidence that wetlands and rivers in the north of the system were succumbing to the poisoning that threatened to overwhelm the Murray's lower lakes in South Australia.
.
Pockets of acidification are also emerging in northern Victoria and along the Murray River in southwestern NSW.
.
Acid sulphate soils can occur when river and lake beds are exposed to the air as water levels fall, triggering a toxic chemical reaction.
.
As more than 12,000 wetlands are potentially at risk in Queensland alone, scientists have had to prioritise, targeting about 200 of the most ecologically significant sites and those close to water supplies.
.
Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water's senior soil scientist Andrew Biggs is leading the investigation. He said the study had found areas of very acidic groundwater, but no site had yet deteriorated to the state of the lower Murray, where the lower lakes near the mouth of the river remain at acute risk of acidification, despite good winter rain.
.
"Think battery acid and seawater mixed together, and that's what we have in some parts of southern inland Queensland," Mr Biggs said.
.
"We think the potential for developing acid is throughout the whole landscape. There's nothing to tell us otherwise, and we have lots of evidence to tell us it is already happening.
.
"In many of those areas, they are in close proximity to major watercourses, major rivers, important wetlands and so on, so we are quite concerned."
.
Earlier this year The Weekend Australian exposed the toxic conditions at Bottle Bend in NSW, where pH levels equivalent to car battery sulphuric acid have been recorded.
.
A report handed to the ministers in May warned that unprecedented low water levels in the lower lakes were exposing acid sulphate soils that could destroy the lakes by October unless urgent action was taken.
.
Debate continues to rage in South Australia over whether the barrages holding back the sea at the Murray mouth should be opened to allow salt water into the lakes, or if hope should be held out for fresh water from upstream.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment