Clarence Valley Council itself admits that the entire estuary is already under stress in its Report Card 2013:
Friday 15 February 2019
Clarence Valley 2019: keeping the Clarence River Estuary healthy for future generations
“like other heavy
fabricating sectors shipbuilding involves the use of materials and
manufacturing practices that can impact on the environment, can contribute to
climate change”
[OECD Council Working Party on Shipbuilding
(WP6), November 2010]
“Shipyards are
dangerous construction zones with many worker hazards. Shipbuilding, repair,
cleaning, and coating use toxic chemicals and hazardous or flammable materials.
These activities also can pollute water directly or through runoff. Repairs may
require emptying dirty water from a ship’s ballast and bilge tanks into the
surrounding waters….. Shipbuilding and ship repair use toxic chemicals that
include chromium,
copper, lead,
and nickel. Ship cleaning activities use chemicals that include copper,
hazardous or flammable materials, heavy metals, and solvents.
They release lead, particulate
matter, volatile
organic compounds, zinc, and other air
pollutants.” [NIH U.S. National Library
of Medicine, Boats & Ships, retrieved 18 February 2019]
If it wasn’t
bad enough that barely two years ago Lower
Clarence communities still had a flimflam man and then a set of dodgy
companies (mentioned in a NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation
in 2018) trying to push for large scale industrialisation of Clarence River
estuary – now Clarence Valley Council apparently attracted by the lure of vacant crown land up for grabs appears to be joining the push to industrialise-and-be-damned if these little
gems in its “Clarence Valley Regional Economic Development Strategy 2018 -2022”
are any indication.
These are excerpts from that document:
Clarence Valley’s key
endowments lie in its coastal, riverine and hinterland amenity; arable soils
and favourable climate; access to Sydney and Brisbane via the Pacific Highway;
and the ability to bring new industrial land to market cost effectively…..
Industrial Land -The
Clarence Valley has seven industrial estates open for business and far more
potential development sites compared with neighbouring councils…..
Sustaining a ready
supply of zoned and serviced industrial land is a strategic priority for
supporting growth in these specialisations, with marine precinct proposals……
•Meet emerging
industrial land use opportunities in a timely way •Develop a marine precinct
proposal •Develop a project portfolio of enabling infrastructure for industrial
sites, including the marine precinct proposal…..•Develop a Port of Yamba Strategy…….
Develop a marine
precinct proposal
•Develop a project
portfolio of enabling infrastructure for industrial sites, including the marine
precinct proposal
•Build on the Transport
Precinct Feasibility Final Report to develop road investment priorities
•Review and complete
land use planning through collaboration with neighbouring councils
•Partner with local
industries and training providers to align training courses to industry’s needs
•Advocate for a marine
manufacturing SkillsPoint
•Identify and cost
options for better Pacific Highway connections
•Advocate for progress
on strategic priorities for the Port of Yamba and Summerland Way
•Develop a Port of Yamba
Strategy
•Develop Yamba Road
& Harwood Road business cases…..
The Clarence
River estuary covers an 800 sq. kilometres floodplain and key environmental
indicators for this estuary’s health include water quality, riverbank vegetation, the
number and distribution of fish species, as well as the presence of macroinvertebrates
and plankton.
The estuary is already beginning to struggle under the weight of human
activity, including marine activity. A fact it would seem that Clarence Valley
Council ignores in its development strategy.
It is a fact
that estuary communities cannot afford to ignore if they wish to preserve the
aesthetic, cultural, social and environmental amenity which supports both
community life and the local economy.
In 2016-2017 a
study of six NSW ports was undertaken and published in PLoS One and online in
December 2017 as “Water
quality assessment of Australian ports using water quality evaluation indices”.
With regard
to the Port of Yamba in the lower Clarence
estuary the study recommended regular monitoring and management of port
activities accounting for both biological and chemical toxicological profiles
of the discharging activities.
It did so for
the following reasons:
* The Port of
Yamba has standard levels of Dissolved Oxygen according to ANZECC guidelines. However. the amount of
fecal coliforms was significantly higher in the water of the port area than the
corresponding background samples, which clearly indicates the impact of the fishing
fleet and recreational boating on the port environment.
* Very high concentrations of iron were found in the port
water, the maximum concentration of lead in the water exceeded the ANZECC (0.0022)
guidelines with all the background samples had much lower concentration
of lead compared to the port area and, the maximum concentration of
copper in the water was much higher than ANZECC guidelines and exceeded other
international guidelines at (0.04 mg/l) in Port of Yamba.
* The mean concentration of copper also exceeded the ANZECC
guidelines. When it came to zinc levels were low except in the port area which contained
very high concentrations of zinc, which exceeded the guidelines. Concentration
of cadmium and cobalt were within the ANZECC guidelines.
* Overall the Port of Yamba portrayed high contamination for all
standard guidelines when it came to water quality – the port area has water
quality of medium contamination and one site has high contamination.
Clarence Valley Council itself admits that the entire estuary is already under stress in its Report Card 2013:
Clarence Valley Council itself admits that the entire estuary is already under stress in its Report Card 2013:
“Water quality was poor
in the estuary throughout the study, with the region around the tidal limit with
consistently the worst water quality of the Clarence River
reflecting the
freshwater and tidal inputs at these sites. Estuary tributaries, particularly
Swan and Sportsmans Creeks and the Coldstream River were in very
poor overall condition
receiving a grade of F. These systems had consistently poor water quality that
contributed nutrient rich, low oxygen and acid water
to the Clarence River
following flooding.
Concentrations of
nitrogen and phosphorus consistently exceeded the guideline values throughout
the study at all sites. Very high nitrogen concentrations were
recorded in estuarine
reaches following flooding. There were no algal blooms recorded during the
study. However, algal concentrations were consistently
above the guideline
value in estuarine reaches.
The Broadwater and
Wooloweyah coastal lagoons both had very poor water quality, with high algal
and nutrient concentrations and turbidity, and low dissolved oxygen values
consistently exceeding a number of water quality guidelines. The Broadwater had
better riparian condition relative to Wooloweyah that improved its
overall grade.
Riparian condition was
generally low from a poor diversity of native vegetation, reduced vegetation
structure and small isolated pockets that were poorly connected to other native
vegetation. Reaches showed evidence of eroding river banks and sediment
deposited in the channel. Estuarine reaches were often dominated by riverbanks with
little or no vegetation present, leading to very poor condition grades.”
The tidal water exchange will not protect the lower estuary from a spreading loss of water quality and increased levels of pollution once industry begins to expand along its foreshores and clusters of marine businesses such as shipbuilding and repair are further developed.
There will be a tipping point that once reached will be hard, perhaps even impossible, to reverse.
This is something that Lower Clarence communities need to consider before council goes too far down this path which leads away from a healthy estuary for future generations.
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