URGENT WARNINGS AFTER 'CATASTROPHIC' SEWAGE LEAK INTO MAJOR RIVER

Fears over seafood from contaminated river
Also concern for those who swam in Albert River
Four megalitres of sewage per day went into water
READ MORE: Which beaches are a sewage risk in summer

There are health fears over fish, crabs and prawns pulled from a major river after it was revealed that four megalitres of raw sewage have been dumped into its waters every day since mid January.

The contamination of the Albert River on the northern Gold Coast in south-east Queensland has been dubbed 'catastrophic' after a sewage main in a paddock near Macpherson Road at Yatala was found to be leaking into the waterway two weeks ago.

Although the City of Gold Coast Council quickly repaired the pipe, it is estimated around 350million litres of sewage - the equivalent of about 140 Olympic-sized swimming pools - leaked into the river and onwards into the Logan River.

Council has warned residents and visitors not to consume 'seafood caught in the tidal reaches of Albert or Logan River until further notice'.

However, they said 'microbial testing' has determined the rivers, which are popular with swimmers and water-skiers, are safe for recreational use.

However, Council appeared to step back from that stating the incident needed to be investigated 'in totality'.

Testing is underway at prawn farms along the waterways to see if the crustaceans are safe to eat.

Gold Coast Councillor Mark Hammel has demanded to know how the disaster happened.

'How does such a critical piece of infrastructure fail and it take three months to have possibly known it had failed?' he asked Seven News.

'I have spoken to local prawn farmers who are rightly very concerned that in the middle of harvest time and when the biggest part of their stock is due to be sold, they have state authorities asking questions about whether certain stock should be put on hold,' he said.

Seafood industry representatives told Seven News they had no further comment pending the results of testing.

Council's executive general manager of infrastructure Michael Kahler said a specialised engineering firm has been hired to investigate the leak, how it went undetected, and the effectiveness of the local response.

Mr Kahler said council understood the seriousness of what had occurred and was working with relevant state agencies.

'We know water quality test results over the past two weeks show the river is safe for recreational use, which is extremely good news,' Mr Kahler said.

'During the three months of the spill, we had no identifiable fish kills or adverse environmental impacts come to light.

'This does not mean there have been no impacts, but we now need to focus on what the science tells us.'

Early investigations indicated that high flows in the Albert River caused by major rainfall could have helped dilute the sewage and possibly lessened the impact.

'The sensible approach right now is to allow the experts to conduct their investigation and we will continue to update the community as new factual information comes to light,' he said.

Untreated sewage can contain toxic pollutants, pathogens, PFAS, and high levels of nutrients which impact on fish, crustaceans, turtles and dugong and waterbirds.

Robert Livingstone from the Eagleby Wetland Community Group said the river-fed wetlands are home to more than 200 native birds and a freshwater lake.

'It could be catastrophic for all the birds if this sewerage leak affects their food source,' Mr Livingstone told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

2024-04-24T05:51:48Z dg43tfdfdgfd