Brisbane and Bremer still high levels of Bacteria

[theangryangler]

Saw this on the news this morning

There are calls for the establishment of a public reporting system on faecal contamination levels in the Brisbane River.
Water experts says they are not surprised by reports that faecal pollution in the Brisbane River was 370 times higher than normal two days before last month's flood.
Brisbane's Courier-Mail newspaper has reported the readings were recorded in samples its staff took at Jindalee, Indooroopilly and Toowong.
Dr Peter Schneider, from South-East Queensland Healthy Waterways, says parts of the city's sewer system are old and porous, and go into overflow when the ground is drenched.
He says water quality should be more regularly monitored for signs of sewage contamination.
"The suggestion actually came from councils first - we've integrated it as a proposal," he said.
"However, it hasn't necessarily progressed at the pace it probably needed to.
"I suspect that's changing quite rapidly now."
He says ideally residents should be told each week if it is safe to use the river at certain locations.
"Do we need to close an area or do we just need to inform people and allow them to make informed choices? The latter is probably the better option," Dr Schneider said.
"There's still a long way to travel in this because it's very early days.
"In-principle agreements there - a lot of people are very keen to progress it but it's not a simple and straightforward process because we haven't done this before in Queensland."

Infections warning


Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman says there have been numerous cases of giardia and infections since last month's floods.
Mr Newman says it will be a couple of months before it is safe to go waterskiing on the Brisbane River.
He says parks will also remain closed for some time to allow flood-related bacteria to break down.
"People do need to be aware that there is potential for people to get infection from the bugs in this mud," he said.
"The same way we ask people again to stay off the Brisbane River - people shouldn't be water skiing and the like - I wouldn't advise it at the current time."

I assume fish are not safe to eat??? or are they ok?

[FTW]

I live on the Logan river and it is still salt and tidal at our reach . I was wondering how I can go about getting more information on water quality, and the quality of fish, prawns and crabs caught. In the last few years the quality of catch has improved, with all being outwardly healthy and juvenile fish being more abundant than previously. However can't bring myself to eat them, Logan hasn't faired that well in water quality and have seen some weirdly sick fish come out of it. Thanks Kev

[Ben D]

Given the flood damage to sewage treatment infrastructure, and the fact that Dr Schneider is alluding that plenty of the old infrastructure was leaking even before the floods, sounds like the water in most of the rivers that drain into Moreton Bay would currently not meet recreational contact requirements - ie: you run a risk if you swim/kayak in them. Fishing from a boat is not direct contact, so should be OK.

However, this sort of magnitude of poor water quality also has various impacts on fish and ecosystem health , but it takes time for many of these sort of impacts to become noticed. Indeed, if we have some warm calm weather in the bay with the water temps up at their summer highs and the water clearing up, there are so many nutrients in there, the increased light penetration due to calm weather and clearer water will provide perfect conditions for anoxia to develop, or even a harmful algal bloom. So we are not out of the woods yet by any stretch.

So while the fish may be coming back into many of these areas, its a bit too early to say that they'll be safe to eat (especially raw, or if you like to eat bits other than the fillet). That is why the authorities are maintaining their recommendations not to go swimming/boating or to eat fish /shellfish from these areas. The pro prawners are taking the prawns for bait use only, so that is why they are operating in the affected areas.

So I guess if you eat fish or crustaceans or , heaven forbid, molluscs from flood affected areas, you are doing it at your own risk, and for goodness sakes cook them properly if you do. Even then, cooking won't necessarily save you if we get some algal blooms of the wrong type, as while cooking can kill nasty bacteria and most viruses, it doesn't rid the animals of algal toxin or even some of the extracellular toxins exuded by some bacteria. Beware and play it safe. I'd be doing C&R myself from these areas until the authorities actually do the required testing and give the all clear.

[Pero]

I bet the prawns are all over the river by now.