<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/08/smells-like-sewage-blackwater-from-victorian-floods-causes-mass-fish-deaths>
"Peter Phillips has spent a lot of time in blackwater.
He paddled 2,000km over 50 days along the Murray River during the 2016 floods.
Most of that was in blackwater, an event often caused by flooding when high
levels of organic material are washed into the river systems, and which
“basically sucks all the oxygen out of the water” as it decays.
He knows what it looks like, smells like, even tastes like.
But the Echuca environmental science teacher said this time things are
“unusual”. The blackwater is different and “smells like there is sewage in it”.
The fish and animals are dying en masse. It is a toxic, painful death.
“The fish deaths in the Murray at Echuca are unusual. It does not appear to be
a case of the ‘usual’ blackwater,” he said.
Phillips believes the low levels of dissolved oxygen (DO), which caused
“massive fish kills” along parts of the river system, are from sewage leaks
upstream.
“The fish are definitely suffering and many have died,” he said. “There are
sightings of [crayfish] crawling out of the river.”
“One person said even the turtles are dying and they don’t even breathe the
water. I think it’s a really high bacterial load, just a really unhealthy
soup.”
In response to community concerns about contamination in the water after
widespread flooding across the state, the Environment Protection Authority
(EPA) Victoria has launched a “high quality” sample analysis program.
The state’s chief environmental scientist at EPA Victoria, Prof Mark Taylor,
said the EPA’s advice remains: stay out of the water."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
