A New Herbicide Courtesy DSDBI and EPA

Took a drive along the South Costerfield-Graytown Road on 23 November, 2014. Wondering if the treated mine water that is being blended with stormwater runoff stored in the Brunswick Tailings Dam and is then allowed by the Environmental (ahem) Protection Authority to be sprayed along the road and roadsides - and the forest - is having any impact on the vegetation.

This is contaminated water from the mine that is being sprayed along the road in order to suppress the dust caused by the trucks carrying water to suppress dust (!).


It was a dry day. Mid to high 20s. Light wind from the north. Forty-six millimetres of rain had fallen five days before. Nothing in the meantime.

Residents have had the water tested for contamination. It contains 170 micrograms per litre of arsenic. It contains 26,000 micrograms per litre of antimony. That is 24 times the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines for arsenic and 7666 times for antimony. It's Category A prescribed waste.

When the trucks spray the toxic waste water as these below are doing, not only does it run into the table drains and flow into farming properties...

...it also kills the vegetation.

This is excellent news in one sense, as it would appear as if the Department of State Development, Business and Innovation has actually found an effective control method for the pest, Chinese Scrub (Biddy bush; Sifton bush; cassinia arcuata).

Just spray heavy metal-contaminated water on the stuff! Easy! That's Innovation, right there!

With just two or three weeks of toxic heavy metal watering, Chinese Scrub can be a thing of the past!


This picture...

...was taken looking back up the road. Look at the dying scrub on the left above.

  
This picture was taken from a little further down the road. It's like this most of the way along.

The scrub is dying back where it is being sprayed along the roadside. The vegetation further from the road is doing fine.

Excellent news in a sense... but only in one sense...

Because the toxic heavy metal-laden water is also killing the native flora. Like this small wattle.

"Unfortunately" there are plenty of stretches of Chinese Scrub that don't receive the privilege of this DSDB Innovation. They act as our 'control' . See how the stuff thrives when you don't spray toxic water on it...

Same day, 1 km away across the creek.