Toxic ‘time bomb’

AS results from the water quality monitoring program for the inner harbour deepening project were released, a marine biologist warned surface dumping of dredged silt at North Fremantle was creating a two-million tonne “time bomb” on local beaches.

Marine biologist Jean-Paul Orsini was “horrified” to learn last week about the Fremantle Port Authority (FPA) pumping silt over a seawall to create 27ha of land in a new Rous Head basin.

“With 2.1 million cubic metres (of silt) set to be spilled out, that’s about two million tonnes of water that is going to be displaced and will flow to the sea,” he said.

“Councils with coasts from Port to North Cottesloe beaches may have a duty of care to put signs up warning people of toxins in their sand and water.”

However, a spokesman for the FPA said the dredged sand was being pumped into an area that was fully enclosed by a seawall lined by geofabric.

“It is normal practice for the discharge pipe to be positioned above the water line so the sand settles in a uniform way,” he said.

Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) chairman Paul Vogel said the FPA had monitoring criteria and if a parameter was above the trigger level, the FPA was required to implement contingency management measures and notify the office of the EPA.

The FPA released the first results from the monitoring program for January 7 on Friday.

The results related to physical water quality parameters, which include temperature, salinity, pH, turbidity, LOI, secchi depth, total suspended solids and dissolved oxygen.

Of the eight parameters tested at four locations, one parameter exceeded the applicable guideline at one location, although the other water quality measures were within the guidelines. The secchi depth trigger level of 1.6 metres was not met at Preston Point Beach.

A representative for the FPA said secchi depth was a measure of visibility within the water column, and reductions were to be expected when a plume was present.

Fremantle MLA Adele Carles said she was seriously concerned about the dredging, especially with children swimming in the waters.

“Within one week the plumes have moved twice as far up the river as the EPA had predicted as a worst-case scenario,” she said.

Ms Carles said the public would be the last to know if the pollution levels exceed the conditions laid down by the EPA.

What everyone else is thinking

Austin May

11/03/2010

I suggest we rename the Bell Tower
to "The Dead Dolphin".
Now I know what it is!! It really looks like one. Very clever.
The new name might get more visitors.

The kicker would be you could claim
"To be able to see the Dead dolphins from the top viewing deck."

Here's some names for the new cafe strip being built to highlight dullsville.

Perth Toxic Tearooms

The De-caffinated Dolphin

Dolphin Disaster Diner

Ph Perth Pier

Carcass cafe

Worst waterfront salinity & Espresso Bar

Please feel free to add your best Cafe name.
It helps to vent anger through comedy.

wills4king

22/01/2010

If they just built Roe 8 they wouldn't need to extend the Port and dig up all the toxic chemicals. All the freight could go to the new port further south!

KayDee

21/01/2010

Our river is in such a poor state at the moment. It is not only the dolphins that are dying out there, but their deaths should be ringing big bells for the goverment Health Department, EPA and the Swan River Trust.
Do we wait until our children are dying from unknown conditions to wake up to the effects of the dredging of toxic materials?

If the shipping is that important then they must be prepared to pay for the full cost of doing the job properly and not with half hearted measures that others have to pay for later.

Dianne

20/01/2010

All the dredging silt is going on top of sea grass out in the ocean. Why did the FPA allow this. We all know that seagrass cannot be regrown. It costs $22,000 for a square of sea grass.
In North Fremantle the river is not as clean as it used to be over the years, so the dredging will not help the state of our river.
The silt should be piped out of the ocean into containers and recycled if possible or if contaminated stored in containers.

Stanley

19/01/2010

Obviously this needs to done for the future regardless of the building of the port further south as it too in time will not be big enough without the Fremantle port to cater for special ships and the tourist trade . Having typed that let's have a deeper look into this . Are they trying to lower the bottom of the river bed to lower the water level ready for global warming when it is said water levels will rise ! Is that why we are looking up to the people on the jetty now as the dredging is lowering the water level ! :) Look at the Old Fremantle Traffic bridge in the background, they dredged a metre out from under it several years ago but the water surface did not stay lower for long :) It like many other dridges will need to be raised for global warming like the old Garret road bridge and possably that jetty they are standing on . :)