Water authorities say they do not believe toxins detected in Perth lakes and drains are posing a health risk.A draft report by the Department of Water has found what it described as low levels of industrial contaminants in Bibra Lake, Bickley Brook and two Herdsman Lake drains.
The contaminants include polychlorinated biphenyls, known as PCBs, arsenic and lead.
John Ruprecht from the Department says there is a possibility the toxins could be present in other Perth waterways but he does not believe they pose a risk.
"The amounts found are considered low, particularly relative to other major cities around Australia and are not really considered a major health risk," he said.
Is this maybe why there aren't any longneck turtles in Lake Claremont anymore??? Are there still turtles in the other lakes by the way???
One would have to ask whether any level of pollution in water is acceptable. Unfortunately the authorities that set the safe limits are often prevailed upon by polluters to set the levels rather higher than most people would like.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, attempting to find out what causes cancer is almost impossible. It's very much like trying to decipher the climate, except that each person is an individual world unto themselves. Given that we do not know how chemicals in water interact in the human body does it make sense to accept any level of pollution in our water?
There are Long-necked Oblong Turtles (Chelodina oblonga) at Herdsman Lake, despite the huge amounts of stormwater which ends up in the lake. There are always many factors effecting the presence or not of native animals - including numbers from year to year. four years isn't a very long when looking at populations :P Longnecks aren't an endangered species, unlike the Western Swamp Tortoise (Pseudemydura umbrina) http://elsewear.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/leave-the-trees/ I don't know what the longnecks range is ie. how common they are in the metro area.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear there are still longneck turtles in Herdsman Lake!
ReplyDeleteI haven't given up spotting them here ;)