We’ve all seen it. We’ve all experienced it. It’s a Sunday and we’ve planned a family picnic by the river. Maybe the Swan. Maybe the Canning. We have the picnic basket packed and the esky filled with fruit juice and crushed ice for the kids. It’s sunny. And those hot desert winds are whipping the west. It’s summer. Sky blue. U2’s on the car stereo and it’s a beautiful day…. We have it planned. We’ll go to the usual place. We can read the papers and lounge on a blanket while the kids have a good run and swim. Later, we might even throw in a meat line for yabbies.
It’s the archetypal Australian scene.
And it’s under threat.
In February 2011, scientists from the University of Western Australia discovered two algal nurseries in the Swan and Canning Rivers. The Canning River incubation site was found near the Kent Street Weir while the Swan River site was found a stone’s throw from Guildford. The team, led by Professor Jorg Imberger from the WA Centre for Water Research has made it clear the Swan and Canning River “systems are on a knife-edge and funds are urgently needed to keep the research project going.”[1]
Algal bloom is a constant challenge to our country’s waterways. It is also detrimental to human health and contact with either a toxic or non-toxic species may cause a number of human health problems including:
- skin rashes
- eye irritation and redness
- ear aches
- itchiness
- swollen lips
- hay fever symptoms
- asthma
- possible skin tumours
- gastroenteritis[2]
Of course it is nutrients, (primarily phosphorus and nitrogen) that foster the blooms, so reduction of these is essential if appropriate management of our waterways is to continue. The main means of reducing nutrient load in water are: avoiding the excessive use of fertilisers and manures on agricultural land, protecting soil from erosion and using products with lowered phosphate content.[3]
Evirosafe Solutions understands the need for such measures, and has implemented its own range of reduced phosphate laundry products in an effort to keep our waterways clean. It takes a proactive stance on protecting the waterways of its local region, and is also able to ensure that its Extreme Green laundry range will not “adversely affect the workings of the sewage treatment plant, biomass or septic system.”[4]
You can contribute to your local waterways’ health and ongoing beauty by using environmentally responsible products such as those manufactured by Envirosafe Solutions. Phone them now on 1300 88 90 70.
[1] Hammond, J. Sources of algal bloom discovered The West Australian February 7, 2011.
[2] http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/3/661/2/algal_blooms.pm#factsheets
[3] NSW Department of Natural Resources Fact Sheet. http://www.dnr.nsw.gov.au/water/algae_causes.shtml
