Fresh calls to fund ‘critical’ SA water testing facility amid algal bloom
A South Australian research centre – key to testing the River Murray flood’s ‘horrible black plume’ in coastal waters – faces closure in April 2026 if crucial funding is not extended, a State Parliament inquiry has heard.
The Goyder Institute for Water Research’s Coorong and Murray Mouth research centre would be forced to close should Federal Government funding – which runs out in April 2026 – not be extended, according to evidence given to a State Parliament inquiry.
Alexandrina Mayor and South Australian Coastal Councils Alliance chair Keith Parkes called for funding for the institute that conducts important water quality testing to be renewed.
If it were given more money, the institute could expand its water sampling research beyond its focus area of the Coorong and across the state’s coastline, Parkes said in evidence given to State Parliament’s Joint Committee on Harmful Algal Blooms in South Australia this morning.
The Goyder Institute is a research alliance of the state’s Department for Environment and Water, the CSIRO, Flinders University, the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia.
It researches water of all types and its Goolwa-based facility monitors water at the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth.
The committee heard the research centre was created with an $8 million grant in 2023, giving it a funding runway of four years. It had about four or five researchers working at the Centre.
With that set to expire soon, Parkes said monitoring of water quality in the region would be lost.
You might like
This was particularly important given the centre’s role in monitoring the “horrible black plume” that came out of the Murray following the 2022 and 2023 River Murray floods that may have played a contributing role in the spread of the harmful algal bloom that had since caused tens of thousands of marine deaths across the state’s coastline.
“In Goolwa, we’re fortunate to have the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth Water Research Centre,” Parkes said.
“We really want that funding to continue and the scope of that work that they do to be continued.
“We want their scope to be enlarged, more areas to be looked at, and we’d like some better water sampling along the system to identify where the pollutants are entering the system.”
He said without renewed funding the Goolwa facility “would just simply cease to operate”.
“It really is critical, not just for what we’re experiencing at the moment but for the long-term future water quality.”
Parkes wrote to Premier Peter Malinauskas about a month ago and received a response from Environment Minister Lucy Hood last week.
He wanted the federal government to extend its funding, but also for the state government to invest too, to “expand the scope of what the facility does”.
Stay informed, daily
“I believe we could do more testing as far as the actual water goes – the nutrients and other water contaminants – other than salinity levels and what they’re doing now,” he said.
“But also to go beyond the Murray Mouth and the lakes – to go up the river – because the problems are up the river. The problem arrives and sits there until there’s a decent flow.”
Joint Committee on Harmful Algal Blooms in South Australia chair Robert Simms MLC said it was “very concerning to hear that the future of the Murray Mouth Research Centre is hanging in the balance, with the Federal Government funding due to expire in April”.
“The Malinauskas Government should be doing what they can to secure funding for this centre and consider making a financial investment themselves to secure its future and potentially expand its operations,” Simms said.
The Joint Committee on Harmful Algal Blooms in South Australia was established last month to consider a range of issues, including the factors that caused the algal bloom to spread, economic impacts, effects on community health and wellbeing, the state government’s response to the crisis, long-term monitoring and prevention strategies.
It previously heard worst-case scenario modelling suggests the algae that is killing multitudes of marine species across South Australia could persist for “decades”.
Earlier this year, the Federal Senate also held its own inquiry into the algal bloom crisis.
Chaired by Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, the inquiry travelled across South Australia and heard from scientists, local community members, state and federal government representatives and business owners.
It uncovered a murky timeline about the federal government’s response, hearing that environment department officials were not aware of the impact of the bloom until the end of May, despite the issue emerging months beforehand.
It also heard from a major South Australian seafood business – Yumbah – which said it sustained a direct financial impact of about $5 million due to the algal bloom.
Yumbah Aquaculture CEO David Wood said the business was forced to stand down workers and was suffering from lost harvest potential, enforced industry closure and urgent risk mitigation measures brought on by the crisis engulfing the SA seafood industry.
Coastal communities also revealed the emotional impact of the algal bloom, with submissions revealing the emotional toll the natural disaster has taken on coastal communities.
In another hearing at Victor Harbor, a distraught commercial fisher said he had not caught any squid since Easter.
The Joint Committee continues.
