Can the Macquarie pollution be traced here?

Given the long history of intensive farming in The Midlands the source of heavy metals in the Macquarie River (On TT: HERE) may be easier to identify than the DHHS would like to admit.

A quick look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizer provides some simple and useful information:

“Heavy metal accumulation

The concentration of up to 100 mg/kg of cadmium in phosphate minerals (for example, minerals from Nauru[48] and the Christmas islands[49]) increases the contamination of soil with cadmium, for example in New Zealand.[50]

Uranium is another example of a contaminant often found in phosphate fertilizers (at levels from 7 to 100 pCi/g)[51]. Eventually these heavy metals can build up to unacceptable levels and build up in vegetable produce.[50] (See cadmium poisoning) Average annual intake of uranium by adults is estimated to be about 0.5 mg (500 μg) from ingestion of food and water and 0.6 μg from breathing air[52].

Steel industry wastes, recycled into fertilizers for their high levels of zinc (essential to plant growth), wastes can include the following toxic
metals: lead[53]arsenic, cadmium[53], chromium, and nickel. The most common toxic elements in this type of fertilizer are mercury, lead, and arsenic.[54][55] Concerns have been raised concerning fish meal mercury content by at least one source in Spain[56]

Also, highly-radioactive Polonium-210 contained in phosphate fertilizers is absorbed by the roots of plants and stored in its tissues; tobacco derived from plants fertilized by rock phosphates contains Polonium-210 which emits alpha radiation estimated to cause about 11,700 lung cancer deaths each year worldwide.[57][58] [59][60][61][62]”