Hawkesbury River
Australia has not treated its river systems with very much respect, most rivers near growing cities have become sewerage channels to the sea, a sewerage soup can hold dangerous bacteria which kill fish and other river life, destroying a valuable habitat resource that once was an abundant source of local fish species for food.
Rivers are the spawning areas for some of the ocean species who swim or migrate from the ocean to a river for the upstream habitats to spawn and the river becomes a sanctuary for baby fish that hide amongst the mangroves and logs, rocks along the river banks until they are large enough to venture into the deeper waters, avoiding predators in greater numbers than in open deeper waters.
These breeding areas are usually in the upper reaches of the river where freshwater and (salt) brackish waters mix.
Sewerage discharges must be taken out of the rivers and any polluting industries closed down along the length of our rivers as the problem is tied to our overall declining fish stocks.
It is very interesting that chemical and other water use industries and sewerage works are always located near a natural waterway, we are now in the early 20th century, the decline in our natural environment has been documented from the latter 19th century and still no moves to change this ideology from polluting our rivers and creeks to a recycling regime.
Water must be separated from these production processes to primary treatment quality with all toxic's or other residues, placed in deep landfill or converted by chemical change to other chemical products or made environmentally safe.
You should never put in the river or sea, what you are not prepared, to put in your own mouth.
Major damage has been done to fisheries and oyster farms with food poisoning scares frequently since the late 1970's all sewerage related.
One river that deserves attention is the Hawkesbury River, this river meanders from the back of the Sydney basin from the Nepean River at Penrith, through Windsor - Wisemans Ferry - and opens to the Tasman Sea at Broken Bay near Palm Beach.
The historic town of Windsor was one of the early settlements in N.S.W. found by early pioneers, with plentifully freshwater coming down through the town on its journey to the sea.
Below Windsor to Wisemans Ferry is a popular water skiing area where a cut to the skin could end up in major infection and complications with gangrene possible if the wound is not cleaned with an antiseptic.
If ever a river was calling out for help, it is the Hawkesbury River as most of the upper reaches of this once mighty river are now biologically dead.
Swimmers Beware
Bull sharks often swim in the upper reaches of the Hawkesbury River and swimmers can be taken as the bull
shark is very aggressive in catching food, it will beach itself in shallow water to snatch a dog or human.
The aggression is similar to that of white pointer sharks.
Parramatta River & Olympic Site.
The Parramatta river was once the host of a chemical company that manufactured the defoliate - Agent Orange near the Olympic site, which was used in a very unpopular Vietnam war.
Agent Orange is a combination of two poisonous herbicide defoliants 2,4-D and 2,4,5 -T which are mixed at ratio 50/50 % a by-product of 2,4,5-T is dioxin, the most toxic organic compound known to science.
Human skin is like a sponge and can absorb these chemical defoliants once the chemicals land on the skin.
These chemicals have been linked to birth defects - missing limbs and cancer in large scale sprayed areas like Vietnam.
Councils in bush areas used these defoliants to spray blackberry outcrops
Dioxin is present in trees, during bushfires a small amount of dioxin is given off when the tree's are burnt.
The Olympic site in its evolution was a vast tidal wetland which would have attracted many species of water birds including migratory birds from the northern hemisphere prior to nearby urban settlement.
The area became a rubbish dump and land fill area with unchecked waste of all kinds being dumped including heavy metals, chemicals and dioxin.
Today the river bottom is heavily contaminated with heavy metals in the black sludge or mud and there is a ban on fishing along its length.
Swimmers Beware
Bull sharks often swim in the upper reaches of the Parramatta River and swimmers can be taken as the bull
shark is very aggressive in catching food, it will beach itself in shallow water to snatch a dog or human.
The aggression is similar to that of white pointer sharks.
Georges River
The Georges river was polluted many times by raw sewerage over the years and today the upper reaches are likely to be polluted by industry and urban runoff.
Neglect of the river can cause disease outbreaks especially when people catch and eat the fish from polluted waters.
Swimmers Beware
Bull sharks often swim in the upper reaches of the Georges River and swimmers can be taken as the bull
shark is very aggressive in catching food, it will beach itself in shallow water to snatch a dog or human.
The aggression is similar to that of white pointer sharks.
Yarra River in Melbourne Victoria
This river has been sadly neglected to the point of being a health hazard, the Yarra was once a source of drinking water but today 2005 the river is a drainage channel carrying all the storm water effluent from greater Melbourne.
The river is so polluted, if one falls in, it could be life threatening with deadly toxic poisoning if water is swallowed.
