Ecotone Vol32 No4 - CAFNEC

BARRON RIVER WATER
QUALITY COMMUNITY
CONFIDENCE PROJECT
BY FOE KURANDA, SYD WALKER
Friends of the Earth in Melbourne have just released
a study into the drinking water supplied to greater
Melbourne [1 ] . The results are disturbing to say the least.
The study may well have relevance to our own situation
as several key factors are similar: a wide diversity of
pesticides used in an agricultural catchment; patchy
data; reluctance to test for the comprehensive range
of potential pollutants; official evasiveness over the
adequacy of testing; and, lack of elaborate filtering
that might remove pesticides from drinking water.
The author, Anthony Amis also raises another issue:
the potential for chemical reactions between chlorine
added to the water supply, as done in Kuranda, and
some of the pesticides, fungicides and herbicides
that find their way into that water. There’s evidence
some of these ‘Disinfection By-Products’ (DCBs)
may be more toxic than the original pesticides [2] .
The International Agency for Research on Cancer
has classified Bromodichloromethane [BDCM] in
Group 2B (possibly carcinogenic to humans). What
this could indicate is that many other communities
across Australia may have none or low numbers of
breaches for Trihalomethanes’s (THMs), yet could
be consuming potentially dangerous levels of
individual Disinfection By-Product’s (DBPs) and these
results are not made public by water authorities.
Some DBP’s have been linked to bladder cancer
and adverse reproductive outcomes. Water
authorities test for a handful of DBP’s, yet 700 have
been discovered. DBP’s are created when chlorine
used as a disinfectant, combines with organic
molecules in the water distribution process.
Friends of the Earth Kuranda have now applied for
a $13,500 State Government grant titled Barron
River Water Quality Community Confidence
Project as part of the LNP Governments
Everyone’s Environment Grant program.
This will allow us to commission the expensive and
sophisticated testing needed to help inform this
debate. We aim to determine if the drinking water
supply for Kuranda and Mareeba meets national
water quality guidelines in relation to the wide range
of chemicals used historically and now in the Barron
catchment. The study will take over 12 months.
We need real information out in the public domain
where it can be scrutinised by the community as
a whole, so we can have informed debate and
outcomes that are seen to be satisfactory.
We are grateful our application has already
received wide endorsement, from diverse quarters
including Djabugay Tribal Council, Kuranda
Envirocare, the Community Action Network and
the Member for Barron River, Michael Trout.
We have been looking for evidence of credible,
regular, specific testing for traces of the hundreds
of complex chemicals that drain every year into
the Barron from agriculture and mining on the
Tableland and for Disinfection By-Products.
In the absence of this, can we be confident the water
is safe If not, is it wise to use this water for drinking
(as well as for irrigation, bathing and fishing)
The safety of our drinking water is an urgent
public health issue and deserves the support and
cooperation of the Tableland Council and the
involvement of the Federal and State politicians
representing the people of Mareeba and Kuranda.
REFERENCES
[1]
Report by Anthony Amis ‘Issues Regarding
Melbourne Drinking Water & Pesticides’, Friends of the
Earth Australian web site, www.melbourne.foe.org.au
[2]
An extract from Report by Anthony Amis SA Water
Drinking Water Quality, January 2000 July 2012, full
report can be found at www.melbourne.foe.org.au
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