Water testing must continue

Tim Morris Greens MR

“The last round of pesticide monitoring in July revealed the greatest number of contamination events in Tasmanian rivers since the testing program began in 2005 and it is hoped that the introduction of the Pesticide Impact Rating Index (PIRI) tool will start to turn around this unacceptable situation, however the government must continue to maintain the existing monitoring program until it proves the worth of the new regime.” “The introduction of Chemical trespass legislation as proposed by the Tasmanian Greens would compliment the new Pesticide Impact Rating Index (PIRI) by providing an incentive for pesticide users to carefully use the new tool to ensure that they retain chemicals to the target area,” Mr Morris said.

WATER TESTING MUST CONTINUE
Minister Llewellyn Must Provide Guarantee
Tim Morris MP
Tuesday, 9th September 2008

The Tasmanian Greens today called on the Labor Government to guarantee to Tasmanians that the pesticide monitoring of rivers will continue and not be curtailed when the expected new Pesticide Impact Rating Index (PIRI) is launched.

Greens Shadow Water spokesperson Tim Morris MP said that while it is hoped the new PIRI system will reduce or eliminate pesticide contamination of the State’s rivers, it will still remain imperative to continue the current quarterly and flood testing programs to determine exactly how effective the new system will be at keeping pesticides out of our waterways.

Mr Morris also said that although the funding for the current agricultural chemical testing of waterways is due to expire mid-2008, the Minister, David Llewellyn, has remained silent on whether the program’s funding will be renewed to ensure it continues.

“While the expected new Pesticide Impact Rating Index will be a valuable addition to ensuring our water quality, it must not be used by the Bartlett government as an excuse to discontinue the current waterways testing regime, the results of which are published on the Department of Primary Industries and Water’s website,” Mr Morris said.

“The funding for the current waterways testing ends mid-2008, yet Minister Llewellyn has remained silent on whether the program will continue or not, and the launch of the PIRI system provides Mr Llewellyn with an appropriate opportunity to guarantee that the testing of the state’s rivers will continue.”

“In the three years of testing we have discovered that every year there have been twice as many chemical contamination events as in the previous year which is a totally unacceptable outcome for Tasmania’s rivers upon which we rely for drinking water as well as irrigation and environmental purposes.”

“Hopefully the use of PIRI will cause a drastic improvement, but it will not fix the problem on its own.”

“The only way that we can determine if PIRI has been successful is if we continue the monitoring program that has been running for the past few years and if PIRI is successful it will be validated by those tests;it will take a halving of contamination incidents each year for several years before we can be assured that these chemicals are being used in the appropriate manner and the poisoning of Tasmania’s rivers is under control.”

“The last round of pesticide monitoring in July revealed the greatest number of contamination events in Tasmanian rivers since the testing program began in 2005 and it is hoped that the introduction of the Pesticide Impact Rating Index (PIRI) tool will start to turn around this unacceptable situation, however the government must continue to maintain the existing monitoring program until it proves the worth of the new regime.”

“The introduction of Chemical trespass legislation as proposed by the Tasmanian Greens would compliment the new Pesticide Impact Rating Index (PIRI) by providing an incentive for pesticide users to carefully use the new tool to ensure that they retain chemicals to the target area,” Mr Morris said.

What Bryan Green says:

Member for Braddon, Bryan Green

Wednesday, 10 September 2008

New Tool to Help Keep Pesticides Out of Water

Tasmanians now have high-tech help to assess the risk of pesticides used by the agricultural and forestry industries.

Member for Braddon Bryan Green today launched the CSIRO’s Pesticide Impact Rating Index (PIRI), a joint initiative of the Australian and Tasmanian Governments.

“This ground-breaking project will improve our understanding of Tasmanian water quality issues and lead to better management of pesticides,” Mr Green said.

“It keeps Tasmania at the sharp end of awareness of rural pesticides and their presence in the environment.”

Mr Green said PIRI-Tas had been tailored to Tasmanian conditions after a two-year scientific research program.

“It’s a fully customised software tool allowing pesticide users to input local variables such as soil condition, slope, soil type and vegetation cover.”

The scientifically-validated software – which drew heavily on CSIRO expertise during its development – will determine whether there is a low, medium or high likelihood of the pesticide moving off-site under the prevailing conditions.

“PIRI-Tas is a ‘best practice’ chemical management tool to be used in conjunction with the particular pesticide’s label conditions.”

“It will not only assist the user to judge which pesticides have the greatest chance of migrating off-target and into the environment, but also will enable chemical regulators to better hone their monitoring activities,” Mr Green said.

Mr Green said the Department of Primary Industries and Water, which managed the initiative, had entered in to a 10-year agreement with the CSIRO to distribute the software, promote it and to train pesticide-users in its operation.

PIRI-Tas has been funded with $1 million from the Australian Government through the River Catchment Water Quality Initiative which is part of the Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement signed jointly by the Australian and State Governments in 2005.