Barron River Water Quality
Kuranda is located on the Barron River.
The Barron’s headwaters are in the rainforested hills of the southern tablelands, near Herberton.
From the highlands, the Upper Barron River flows downwards and south towards the flatter land around Mareeba, then eastwards in the direction of the coast.
When it approaches the Kuranda area, the Barron winds past Koah and along the spectacular Myola Valley. Just past Kuranda village, the middle Barron arrives at the Barron Falls, where water tumbles hundreds of metres downwards. The lower Barron then flows into the Coral Sea in the northern beaches of Cairns.
The Barron has been significantly modified by the Tinaroo Dam irrigation scheme which provides water to much of the agricultural land adjacent to the middle Barron. Water flow through the Barron Falls is also regulated by the hydoelectric power scheme located at the falls.
Extensive clearing on the tablelands has silted much of the middle Barron. In recent times, there has been welcome action from the Barron River Integrated Catchment Management Association, along with local landcare groups such as Kuranda Envirocare, to afforest the banks of the Barron. This long-term project may help restore the river’s water quality.
However, FoE Kuranda has growing concerns about pesticide run-off, mainly from the agricultural lands in the middle Barron.
There is no register of pesticides used in the catchment and no testing, regular or otherwise, for pesticide residues in the river or its fauna. This is not responsible management.
We are concerned for the health of the river, the health of those who eat its produce (mainly indigenous people who have customarily fished the Barron for millennia) – and for the health of the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef where the Barron eventually flows.
The photo above shows the Barron a couple of kilometres upstream from Myola. This part of the river is a favourite spot for Aboriginal recreational fishers, who consume catch from the river. The health consequences of eating fish from the Barron have never been monitored.
Syd Walker
FoE Kuranda founder member
Is Water from the Barron River safe to drink?
Is Water from the Barron River safe to drink?
Friends of the Earth Kuranda have some serious misgivings over this question and for good reason!
Anthony Amis spokesperson for Friends of the Earth Australia said drinking water must also be tested for the host of agricultural chemicals that are used within water supply catchments. If the tests are not being done, he said that he would be, “far from confident that the water is safe.”
Anthony Amis is also a Member of the Community Consultative Committee for the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority.
Tests in Victoria have shown unsafe levels of pesticides in rivers where catchments are used for intensive agriculture and major mitigation measures are not in place to prevent chemical water pollution. This is similar in most respects to the Barron River situation.
In Victoria, drinking water quality is a State Government responsibility with water authorities responsible for testing, however, in Queensland it’s left to local councils who test primarily for bacterial contamination and not pesticides including insecticides herbicides and fungicides.
Friends of the earth Kuranda, a not for profit community group affiliated with FOE International (present in 77 countries worldwide), sees water quality as one of the major local issues of concern. Apart from the health issues, the waters of the Barron River will ultimately affect the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area.
Other FOE local issues include:
* Concerns that the Tableland Regional Council has ongoing intentions to urbanize the Myola valley as a dormitory suburb of Cairns, despite the FNQ Regional Plan 2031.
* The widespread use of the chemical” Strike -Out” on farms and the decimation of native Australian animals and pollinating bees as a result.
* Curbside rubbish recycling
If you have an interest in environmental or social justice issues you are welcome to attend FoE’s next meeting scheduled for Sunday May 22 , 2011 at 11:30 a.m. Membership is just $5.00 /year. You can also make a donation.
To contact Friends of the Earth Kuranda and for further information see www.foekuranda.org, phone Sarah on 40850054 or email info@foekuranda.org.
Right now the Earth needs all the Friends it can get, and you can make a difference.
Pat Daly
Environment Roundtable
Cairns Environment Roundtable was held on Sunday 28 February 2010 when Kate Jones, Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability met with representatives of environmental groups in the area including Syd Walker of Friends of the Earth Kuranda.
Syd presented the following briefing paper on three issues that particularly concern us:
- Transport,
- Water Quality
- Continuing vegetation clearance and associated wildlife habitat loss
Briefing Paper
1/ Transport with specific reference to the Kuranda Range
During this visit to FNQ, Ministers may well be lobbied by advocates of a proposed Four-Lane Highway through World Heritage, linking Cairns to the Tablelands.
This proposal was put on hold by the Bligh Government – when it announced that a decision over the highway would be deferred for at least a decade. But the main roads lobby never lets up.
Friends of the Earth Kuranda is one of many groups and networks that applauds the decision taken by the Bligh government to defer a decision on a new Highway. Developing the tablelands with the same car-dependency model that’s already rampant in FNQ is no way towards a sustainable future – quite apart from World Heritage and biodiversity issues specific to the proposed area and route.
However, we urge the Government should act now to reduce pressure on the existing two-lane Kuranda Range road, through effective demand management and better use of existing local rail facilities.
It is nothing less than a scandal that the busy and scenic Kuranda Range Road is still used by waste trucks to transport solid waste from a long-time malfunctioning ‘recycling’ facility in Cairns to landfill in Mareeba. Both ends of their journey are on existing rail links. Why isn’t rail used?
We ask the Government to put serious effort is put into revitalising rail in FNQ – and to pursuing transport demand management strategies. Taking effective action to reduce traffic on the Kuranda Range would be an excellent test-bed for broader sustainable transport planning.
FoE Kuranda proposed quite a sophisticated demand management project a couple of years ago. Our proposal was not accepted for funding by the State Government. We wish to know what the Government intends to do instead?
2/ Water quality
Among the plethora of threatening processes affecting the Great Barrier Reef is the hot potato of sediment , nutrient and especially pesticide run-off from land.
We have been appalled, over the years, at the complete absence of any serious monitoring of our local river – the Barron – for pesticide content. It’s known that several hundred pesticides are used in this catchment annually. The toxicity of this complex brew is really unknown. It is a serious issue for the reef and river wildlife – but there are additional concerns that the drinking supplies of townships such as Kuranda, extracted from the river without elaborate filtering for complex chemicals, may also be unsafe for long term use.
The Premier’s aspirational target of a 50% reduction of pollution run-off onto the Reef over the coming 4 years is a positive beginning. But there must be real monitoring – or it will be impossible to know whether or not it has been achieved – and real action, especially with regard to farmed land – or such an ambitious target will never be achieved.
Organic agriculture provides an obvious way forward – and we’d like to see a lot more government support for this small but not insignificant part of the Queensland agricultural sector which tends to overlooked.
We would also like to see the State Government require its own agencies and local councils to move rapidly, where possible, to chemical-free land maintenance strategies.
3/ Continuing vegetation clearance and associated wildlife habitat loss
As other groups at this meeting are leading on this issue we will not duplicate their efforts in this short briefing presentation, other than to note our deep concern over continuing loss of native vegetation in this area and our frustration that the existing planning regime fails to give adequate protection to this priceless asset.
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