River Torrens shut down over bacterial outbreaks
Piles of rubbish and bacterial outbreaks are plaguing the city’s centrepiece waterway with waterbirds and ducklings forced to wade through old water bottles and food wrappers.
Tourists and locals are raising concerns about foul smells and a buildup of rubbish littered throughout key sections of the River Torrens with kayaking and rowing currently banned from the popular waterway.
Waterbirds including ducklings can be seen wading through washed-up debris, littered water bottles, plastic, old cans and discarded food wrappers at Torrens Lake today following this week’s heavy rainfall.
Torrens Lake and sections of the River Torrens have been closed for more than two weeks for public health reasons after water testing showed elevated levels of enterococci bacteria.
Kat Sengsoon walks along the Torrens River almost everyday during her work break and says the “rubbish is almost everywhere” after heavy rainfall this week flushed debris downstream.
“In general, people shouldn’t dump the rubbish in the river and they should take more care in keeping the river clean,” she said.
The River Torrens is jointly managed by multiple different councils including City of Adelaide, Norwood Payneham and St Peters, West Torrens and Campbelltown alongside Green Adelaide and government departments.
But the centrepiece city section of the River Torrens overlooked by Adelaide Oval and the Adelaide Festival Centre is the Adelaide City Council’s responsibility.
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A social media post from the City of Adelaide said “the potentially harmful bacteria is believed to be related to recent heavy rainfall events”.
“Water-borne activities such as rowing, kayaking and paddle boats will cease until the lake reopens. Commercial operations such as Popeye and BBQ Buoys can continue to operate,” the post said.
“Water testing will continue until the levels of enterococci are deemed low enough to allow the lake to reopen.”
It is the third time this year that Torrens Lake had been closed due to high levels of harmful bacteria following extreme weather events.
In February it was closed due to the presence of high E. coli levels, dead fish, following an extended dry period, while it was closed in July following heavy rainfall and again this month.
John Schumann, best known for his anti-war song ‘I Was Only 19’ and more recently ‘Ragtag Extremist Blues’, fronted up at an Adelaide City Council meeting on Tuesday night calling for “nanobubble technology” to be introduced to clean the waterway.
Nanobubble oxygenation technology uses microscopic gas bubbles which is injected into liquids to boost oxygen levels, clean contaminants, and improve water quality without relying on harsh chemicals.
Schumann said the technology had been proven to work in cleaning up much larger bodies of water facing similar issues of bacterial buildup in other states.
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“When the Torrens Lake is in the condition that is, when Lake Albert in Wagga Wagga which is much larger than Torrens Lake has been cleaned up to the delight of council and the citizens when other technologies have failed demonstrably,” he said.
A motion to investigate the use of the technology in the River Torrens and Torrens Lake was deferred.
A City of Adelaide spokesperson said it continued to work tirelessly alongside other council’s and Green Adelaide to improve the water quality.
“The City of Adelaide invests considerable time and money in ensuring the River Torrens is as clean as possible, noting we are just one of many councils with an interest in the river’s health and we all work closely with Green Adelaide,” the spokesperson said.
“This includes monitoring water quality and marine life, trapping pollution, removal of debris and litter and general catchment management such as planting and weed control.
“This latest incident again raises the importance of managing the River Torrens beyond the City of Adelaide’s boundaries, particularly upstream, to prevent pollutants and sources of contamination from reaching the Torrens Lake – an ornamental water feature primarily used to mitigate flooding in the western suburbs.”
A spokesperson for Green Adelaide said lots of work goes into improving the health of the River Torrens to maintain it as “an important place for Adelaidians” and a “vital system for our local wildlife and plants”.
The spokesperson said the community could assist by keeping the river litter free and avoid dumping “pollutants into the waterway”.
Melbourne tourist Alistair McIntosh said he was “disappointed” and “a bit sad” to see the amount of rubbish buildup in the River Torrens.
“It’s worth cleaning it up because it’s such a great asset to Adelaide,” McIntosh said.
“It was something that we were definitely keen to see when we came over, just to be in the area and walk around the river.
“It definitely looked a lot better at night when we were dining nearby with all the lights on.”
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