Water quality in the Bay
January 2012
Anecdotally, since Christmas we’ve had numerous comments that the water condition in the Bay this year is the worst it has been for many years.
No doubt rainfall run off has contributed significantly, and media reports of the dirty plume entering the Bay from the Yarra after the Christmas Day downpour testifIES to this.
However, although the mainstream media don’t seem to have noticed, it’s worth commenting that the Port Corporation has been doing more maintenance dredging in the Yarra throughout December/January, so it’s odds on that the sludge stirred up by their works has contributed to the massive plume of silt so evident in the Bay after Christmas.
As EPA only tests for E. Coli bateria in their routine beach testing, we can only guess what other contaminants and toxicants (such as the numerous heavy metals and pesticides known to be contained in Yarra sediments) dredged from the riverbed around the Port would have been released into the water that so many of us dived into just after Christmas.
Check out the amazing picture of the filthy plume from the Yarra on December 28th: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/water-issues/pollution-alert-at-melbourne-beaches-20111228-1pcdl.html
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