Levels Of Pollution In The Brisbane River Environmental Sciences Essay

Levels Of Pollution In The Brisbane River Environmental Sciences EssayRiver Brisbane is the longest river in the southeast Queens knock down of Australia. It originated from the foothills of the great dividing and emanates finished Brisbane urban center before releasing its weewee into Moreton verbalize. The river was named after Thomas Brisbane, New South Wales Governor, by John Oxley in 1823. The river provided and still provides a main form of steer amidst the city of Brisbane and Sydney. Before the European settlement Brisbane River was genuinely clean and unpolluted. It was then utilize as a source of food and in any case for recreational purposes. For rather a long term the growth and settlement of mass more or less river Brisbane has adversely affected the graphic symbol of its water as hale as the disembodied spirit that it supports (Straughan 1972 p.93). As the town of Brisbane grew the river became very unclear and polluted and by 1928 the water quality ha d deteriorated to the extent that it was not safe even for bath. even the government of Australia decided to protect the river from taint and by adopting anti befoulment acts as well as educating the semipublic on the importance of protecting the environment. The river was apply the source for agricultural water and also provided horse sense apply in the construction around the increase city. The river faced so many risks of contaminant from the growing industries and from the waster vessels that transported petroleum products and more or less another(prenominal) substances. Nitrogen from cloaca word and phosphoric from industrial spill as well as other metals, were and still argon among the main pollutants (MacKey, Hodgkinson Nardella 1992). However the data taken on the atomic number 7 and phosphorus levels in the river shows that the efforts of protecting the river possess bared some fruits. In 2000 the average newton levels were about 2.2mg/l while in 2009 t he average level had dropped to 0.5mg/l. A graph plotted for both nitrogen and phosphorous show a reducing in their concentration in the river.IntroductionFor more than 400 million eld now, the Brisbane River has been turn tailing. Its catchments remove endured a number of floods and droughts seasons while its origins have continuously shifted as the surrounding land kept changing from time to time. In 1823 when John Oxley entered River Brisbane for the first time, the river was very clean and unpolluted. After a while Oxley realized that the river could be used as a new site for new settlement and done his suggestion, the city of Brisbane was developed alongside the River in 1825. The Brisbane River, whose origin is at the rump of Great Dividing Range, has a catchment area of about 30,000km square and it ventholes its water into the bay of Moreton (National Library of Australia 1988).The once pure water of Brisbane was mostly used for insobriety and for recreational purpos es like swimming and the like. However as the city of Brisbane developed, industries started growing in it. At that time industries took the river as an efficient and cheap depict for waste disposal. The Brisbane River was the only means of transport mingled with Brisbane town and Sydney until when the path links were established. This river has for long been the most important asset for of Brisbane city as its still used for transportation, recreational and relaxation purposes. For the better part of the twentieth century, this river has been polluted and overused as its basin provided grazing grounds as well as fertile lands for agriculture (Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1986). According to AsiaRooms.com, the river basin also provided worthy catchment areas which could be used for damming purposes.The river presented several advantages which for the town and its people but the people exploited these advantages so carelessly such that self reparation appeared unfeasible . at once the Brisbane River has undergone considerable modifications to meet the requirements of the citys population which is increasing. Through diverse public ken on the need to protect the environment, the river has gained significant political support in form of anti-pollution acts and policies that were adopted by the government (Doyle Kellow 1995 p.180). soon the duty of checking pollution levels and water quality of river Brisbane is reliablely on the Queensland parliament. The parliament has so outlying(prenominal) made a lot of progress in its efforts of maintaining the quality of the river by establishing both anti-pollution acts.These acts comprise the 1971 Clean amnionic fluid Act and the Pollution of Waters by Oil of 1973. Due to the current public awareness on environmental protection and by the help of these acts, the quality of River Brisbane has significantly modify although its not yet at the safe levels. According to Doyle Kellow (1995), the River is cur rently musical accompaniment a population of 2 million people while transport and industries and still dependent on the river, which then helps to understand why its pollution level is still above the safe levels (p.180). The aim of this essay is to adjudge a report on the levels of pollution of Brisbane River from the year 2001 to 2010.For the 150 age that the Europeans have occupation the region, River Brisbane has seen a number of modifications. The river has survived waves of exploration including agriculture, grazing, urbanization and settlement, etc. the urbanization and settlement required flood mitigation strategies and water computer storage for drinking purposes (Straughan 1972 p.94). Shipping channels and flood ginmill measures also call for to be taken as the river was the main means of transport between the city and Sydney. Sand dredging along the river has been the main activity as sand was highly needed for construction in the city. Between the year 1900 and 19 70 nearly 12 million cubic meters of sand were extracted from the shores of River Brisbane. Extraction reached its peak last mentioned in mid 70s when about 1.45 million cubic meters of sand were universe extracted annually. The extraction later dropped to 1 million per year and eventually ceased in 1996/7.The riches of the river between mt Crosby and Wivehoe are most pleasing esthetically because of their cool atmosphere. Between Jindalee and mt. Crosby the river widens and then flows through rural and residential areas. In this area pollution by human beings is very evident and presumable. Currently the Brisbane port is accountable for extraction of sand in the lower reaches of the river so as to maintain deep channels for water vessels. This long time dredging has considerably deepened the river hence making its banks quite unstable (Olafson 1978). Strong urban development has been evident throughout the city and on the south bank reach.As this river proceeds towards the Pi nkenba, commercial and industrial areas dominate while march on down from Murarie to the mouth, the river passes through mangrove lined region which is dominated by commercial shipping activity (MacKey, Hodgkinson Nardella 1992 p 418-420). The speed of water in this region is often determined by season. In this region the river reaches its highest flow speed during summer when there is high rain downfall while the negligible flow is in winter when rainfall is minimal. Due to the slow flow of water in this region, there is likelihood of pollutants accumulation and overall disability of water quality. However this accumulation of pollutants can be cleaned by the release of water from storage dams situated in the river upstream. Wivenhoe and Somerset dams release certain(p) amounts of water that are satisfactory to the water needs of the people of Brisbane. These two dams enable a more even water flow throughout the year thus maintaining and improving the quality of water in the r iver. The dams are also used as a means for flood prevention by reducing water flow from the range.Analysis of the past and current pollutants of river BrisbaneAccording to Connell Shaw (1980), the major sources of pollutants of the river comprise the many large scale cast points where wastes from industries and treatment plants discharge into the river (p.356-358). Currently the discharge from sewage is treated to a safer secondary ensample with only a small portion of it being left in the primary standard. The small portion of primary standard sewage discharged into river Brisbane does not only contribute considerably to the toxic load in the river but also to the nutrient load and change magnitude demand for oxygen. This pollution leads to the contamination of fish and other aquatic life by such substances. Sewage discharge around the city of Brisbane is viridityly chlorinated hence causing a negative impact to the river. The most common discharges to river Brisbane result ed from the highly industrialized section of the river. The city of Brisbane has two main treatment plants for waste water as well as Gibson Island on the Southside and a luggage point on the North side both of which are found at the industrialized section of the river.Moreover River Brisbane faces other risks of pollution from the BP and Caltex oil refineries which discharge into the river discharge streams from potentially contaminated areas. Other discharges into the river such as runoff from the urban and industrial parts, and from upstream parts of the catchment, discharge substantial toxic pollutants into the river (Wong Tam 2005). Sometimes separatrixs occur resulting to spills of petroleum and insecticides among other substances. This often results to contamination of the river leading to fish death and other water lives. For instance in April 1998, a tanker known as Barrington was docked at White Island in Brisbane collided with a local boat named Austral Salvor. This acc ident resulted to a spill of 8 tonnes of heavy fuel into the river.ConclusionIn order to recommend any possible measures that can help mitigate the quality of River Brisbane one must understand the past and the current pollutions characteristics of the river. In this paper, the pollution analysis of river Brisbane is based on the data provided by Queensland division of Environment and Resource Management. Nitrogen and phosphorous which are the main pollutants of the river have been measured and their levels in the river minimized. Nitrogen is found in fertilizers and it usually reaches the river when rain water passes through agricultural fields where fertilizer has been applied. Its also produced during sewage treatment processes. Phosphorous is produced in the waste treatment plants in Brisbane and from absorbed livestock operations. According to Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (1997), both nitrogen and phosphorous are can be harmful and toxic to aquatic life since their nurtur e growth of aquatic plants which then depletes the water of oxygen hence comprise danger to fish and other organisms (p.35).The graph below shows the levels of nitrogen and phosphorous in River Brisbane from the year 2000 to 2009. The concentration of these pollutants was measured in milligrams per litre of water.Fig.1 graph of nitrogen and phosphorous concentration against yearsFrom the graph we see that in 2000 the level of nitrogen in river Brisbane was quite high with more than 2mg of nitrogen in every litre of water. However due to the extensive public awareness and the anti-pollution measures taken by the government these levels reduced drastically between 2000/1 to below 1.5 mg/l. the downward trend in decrease of nitrogen continued until 2008 when the average level was about 0.5 mg/l. in 2009 the levels appeared to be rising again which shows that the government as well as the general public of Brisbane may have relaxed in its efforts to maintaining the quality of the river .On the other hand phosphorous levels have been low all through with level of below 0.4mg/l in 2000. The phosphorous levels have also shown a general downward trend and show a likely hood of reaching zero levels within the next few years if the same trend is maintained. The analysis of the past and the present pollution situations of river Brisbane presage the government as well as the local authorities have done tremendous work in controlling the water quality of the river. If the efforts are maintained, the river will reach its old clean levels within a few years.