Swimmers undeterred by algae red alert in Murray River

By PETER KER
February 22, 2010 Close to 300 kilometres of the Murray River has been declared off limits to humans and animals, as a toxic algal bloom worsened yesterday. As the river between Wodonga and Echuca was elevated to ”red alert” for algal bloom, there were concerns the risks to human health were not being communicated to those closest to the river. Under a red alert – the highest level of threat for blue-green algae – people are advised to avoid all contact with the water, as the algae can cause gastroenteritis as well as skin and eye complaints. Town water authorities had been notified and had upgraded their water treatment processes last night, while farmers were advised to keep their stock away from the blooms as well. But despite yesterday’s warning, large crowds flocked to the river to escape the high temperatures across the state’s north. … The blooms occur when high water temperatures and high nutrient levels coincide, and despite claims the blooms are naturally occurring events, John Williams from the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists said poor river management was also to blame. ”We are making the river much more prone to algal blooms by the way we run it and also the nutrient load from our land use,” he said. Mr Williams said large shallow dams along the Murray – such as Hume and Lake Mulwala – were also part of the problem. This bloom is the second within a year for the Murray, after a major bloom derailed the peak Easter tourism period last year. … It was unclear yesterday how long the bloom would last, but authorities were advising people not to eat mussels or crayfish caught in the affected regions, and to eat only fish that were thoroughly cleaned and gutted.

Murray’s algae red alert fails to sway swimmers