Algal bloom waterways campaign growing

Glad, as I said in a recent post, to hear that the connection between land use and our waterways is becoming better understood.

Over recent months I have been writing letters in to newspapers, and on other blogs hoping that this issue will get in to the spot-light.

Here is one of the submissions I wrote to the Age, and sometime later an article was done on this.  So hopefully  annoying the Editor or the environmental editor did make a difference.

Like land – like local landscapes.        

Most of us tend to think of private landscapes, public landscapes or rural landscapes, as though these are separate, distinct and different. “One is out in my backyard, one is shared, and the last one is lurking out there in the wild, somewhere.”  With land-management issues, like weeds, and land-clearing, we city-dwellers tend to think, 'Oh, that only happens on the land.’

In fact, we all live on the land, and all land zonings have a lot in common.  Our landscapes are teeming with natural and man-made biological processes which may be in need of some taming! 

Take the blue-green algae outbreak in Lake Burley Griffin (ACT) which is preventing locals from swimming (Canberra Times, 7 January, 2012).   Algal blooms (or cyanobacteria) are caused by too many nutrients and contaminants entering our waterways from both agricultural land and private land.   Elements contributing to these algae consist of phosphorus, nitrogen, animal and human effluent and other pathogens.   Nutrients sound generally nourishing and positive (!), but as with anything an over-dose of any nutrient can make humans, wild-life and our land extremely ill.  Algicides can’t be used to eradicate the algal blooms, because they are also harmful to other (beneficial) organisms and animals in the water-ways.

Right now these blue-green algal blooms are multiplying in the Gippsland Lakes (Vic), Goulburn Murray region, and are found at different times in much of Australian waterways.

Many of us don’t realise that building up our gardens (commonly referred to as ‘the outdoor room’) and urban landscapes do mean more stormwater run off to creeks.  Our activities in our backyards have huge consequences as nutrients, animal matter, sewerage over-flows, hydrocarbons enter our creeks and make their way to the sea. It may not be surprising that Melbourne beaches got a ‘fair’ rating recently, which isn’t wonderful news for local tourism or for marine life.  

Most people don’t take an interest in the contents of our drains.  But, most of us do like gardens, wildlife, and dangling our feet in the sea! These are some steps we can take to reduce the detriment to our wildlife and marine life, and they really aren’t that difficult. As a minimum, we should:

Allow for more porous surfaces in our gardens so that more stormwater is absorbed  and less water gets flushed away down drains. Outdoor rooms should be downsized, as these tend to involve hard, non-permeable areas with increased urban run-off to drains.

·       
          Avoid using chemical fertilisers on our gardens and lawns (look for organic, seaweed solutions). Pesticides may be avoided if we practice companion planting, and mix up the species a bit more, and increase bio-diversity.

·       
          Pick up pets’ droppings

If we are real devotees, we can :

·         

      Chose landscapers that practice or are certified as sustainable landscape designers (who practice erosion, contamination and sedimentary control). (Eg SGA's ECLIPS programme). 

·        

      Chose organic food or grow our own, as chemicals in farming are leaching out and affecting our eco-systems and ground-water.

·        

      Buy food from community markets selling locally produced food, where broad-acre farming is less likely to be practiced.  

·        

      If possible, incorporate a rain-garden (inground or above ground) and plant plants with bio-filtration functions (cleaning out hydrocarbons, nutrients, sediment).

Many farmers and land-managers are already setting up the necessary safeguards. These are just some of the things farmers can do to protect our waterways:

·       Ensure buffer zones are placed (10m wide) each side of farming land to reduce run-off to local waterways.

·        

      Ensure these buffer zones (natural vegetation) are preserved and managed to avoid erosion and loss of vegetation in times of drought.

·        

      Restrict farming stock from grazing near creeks and tributaries as grazing can cause erosion to river banks and mean contamination of waterway

      

      Control the use of agricultural chemicals and restrict their use well away from waterways and buffer zones. 

Well-considered approaches in relation to our urban backyard management and farm-land are needed. 


This means a multi-disciplinary team of government personnel, town-planners, WSUD experts, horticulturalists, land-managers coming together to address common problems like top-soil disturbance, contamination and bio-diversity threats which affect us what-ever type of land we inhabit.

Nicolle Kuna is a Melbourne blogger, web-site writer and project worker and someone who likes to drone on about drains and be loquacious about landscapes (since completing her qualification in Sustainable Landscape Design).  She has a blogspot: BloomingandBold.Blogspot.com.  In her previous life, she campaigned with the Australian Democrats (House of Reps) on environmental issues, was a lawyer, and author of Common-Sense Law, Hybrid Publishers.