Food For Thought

[Agent X]

Extracted from: http://www.usyd.edu.au/research/news/2004/...7_harbour.shtml

Sydney Harbour one of world's most contaminated

17 August 2004

Heavy metal, organochlorine and hydrocarbon contamination in Sydney Harbour are among the highest in the world, with storm-water pollution adding to existing build-ups, a long-term University of Sydney study has found.

The 14-year research project found copper levels are up to 100 times higher than the average for sediments pre-dating European settlement, and total copper, lead and zinc concentrations are about 20 times higher.

A recently launched book, The Contaminant Status of Sydney Harbour - A Source Book for the Public and Professionals, details findings of research carried out by the Environmental Geology Group at the University of Sydney (EGGUS).

Dr Gavin Birch, senior lecturer in the School of Geosciences, who co-authored the book with postgraduate student Stuart Taylor, said Sydney Harbour remained one of the more polluted ports in the world.

"There's still a lot of cleaning up to be done," Dr Birch said. "Material coming in with stormwater run-off is very high in contaminants, so even if some is flushed out, more washes in to replace it." Dr Birch said there was also evidence of banned organochlorines such as DDD and DDE continuing to enter the harbour, either from run-off on contaminated sites or illegal dumping.

Although fishing in Sydney Harbour is banned, limiting health risks to humans from continuing contamination, Dr Birch said several bays and tributaries would remain biologically "dead" while toxins remained at existing levels.

"Contamination has had and is having an effect on the benthic animals which would live in the sediment," he said. A large proportion of estuarine biodiversity is found in the benthic community with many of its worms, shrimps, snails and bivalves important food sources for fish and birds.

The EGGUS study area extended from the Parramatta River to Port Jackson, Lane Cove River, Middle Harbour and North Harbour, with the highest concentrations of contaminants found at Homebush Bay, Hen and Chicken Bay, Iron Cove and Rozelle and Blackwattle Bays.

"Mean concentrations of heavy metals, organochlorine compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Port Jackson sediment are among the highest reported in the world," the book said.

Dr Birch said attempts at large scale remediation of heavily contaminated areas would be pointless without controlling the source of continued contamination. He recommended sand infiltration devices attached to gross pollutant traps as one method of trapping fine particles, many from car exhaust fumes, which settled and washed into stormwater channels in the catchment.

[kevvie]

Oh my god... and here i was deluding myself that everything was as good as gold in the harbour. When residents boarding the ferry would ask if the fish that i'm catching is alright to eat, my reply was "well am i glowing yet". It looks like now i'm in line for lead role in 'return of the toxic avenger'