Chain Reaction – The National Magazine of Friends of the Earth Australia Issue #123 April 2015
In October 2014 the new Hodgman Liberal Government axed the unique decade-long pesticide testing program conducted by the DPIPWE (Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment). This means that Tasmania will now fall back to 2004 when no routine monitoring of pesticides in waterways was conducted in the State, except for irregular monitoring by drinking water authorities.
Just who does this new scenario serve best?
From 2005, the Tasmanian Government embarked on an ambitious project to monitor pesticide residues in waterways. The pollution would largely have been caused by agricultural and forestry practices. 83 sampling sites were used during the 9 years that the project was active, with 36 of the sites ceasing during that same period. This was an important project, as no other state in the country sampled the same amount of waterways for such a period of time.
Approximately 36 pesticides were (sometimes) tested for depending on the location of the sampling site and sites were sampled (generally) once every two to three months.
The most frequently detected pesticide was MCPA being detected 72 times at a number of locations, followed by 2,4-D (35 times), Prometryn (25 times), Simazine (17 times), Metalaxyl (12 times), Cyanazine (9 times), Metsulfuron Methyl (9 times), Triclopyr (9 times) and a number of others.
MCPA is a selective herbicide used for control of broadleaved weeds in cereals, linseeds, pasture and turf. 2,4-D is a phenoxy herbicide used in Tasmania to control broadleaf weeds in cereals, pastures and non-agricultural areas. Prometryn is a herbicide used in vegetable crops, Simazine is a herbicide used in a variety of guises, Metalaxyl is a fungicide used in vegetable crops. It is clear therefore that the majority of the detections were a result of farming practices.
None of the samples breached Australian Drinking Water Guideline levels. A detection of the insecticides Diazinon of 0.1ug/L in July 2008 at the Jordon River Mauriceton, breached Australian ecological guidelines. Several detections of Simazine also breached ecological guidelines. There are no ecological guidelines however for MCPA.
Of particular concern were a number of high detections of pesticides for the herbicides MCPA, 2,4-D and Simazine. The highest levels recorded for Simazine was 2.2ug/L at the South Esk River at Perth in October 2005. The South Esk River supplies a large portion of drinking water to the city of Launceston. Similarly a Simazine level of 1.27ug/L was detected in the Macquarie River in July 2007. Simazine is a triazine herbicide, closely related to Atrazine. During the 1990’s Forestry Tasmania placed restrictions on the use of triazines after widespread contamination of waterways, mostly in the northern part of the state. Private forestry owners however, such as Gunns, continued using Simazine, as did many farmers.
Highest level of 2,4-D …
The highest level of 2,4-D was 11.2ug/L recorded at the Clyde River Bothwell in July 2014. Levels of 2,4-D above 1ug/L were recorded at the Rubicon River (July 2008), Tuckers Creek (July 2012), the Duck River (July 2013) and the Welcome River (July 2014).
MCPA was frequently detected in the Duck River near Smithton for 9 years, yet the highest amount of MCPA recorded was in the Rubicon River in January 2014. The level detected was 19.1ug/L which is probably the highest amount of MCPA recorded in an Australian waterway. The Rubicon River flows into Port Sorell, east of Devonport.
It seems odd timing that the new Tasmanian Government decided to stop the pesticide monitoring program during the same year that the highest amounts of 2,4-D and MCPA were recorded during the program. Surely it would be in the Government’s interest to continue monitoring and to work at solutions to stop pollution occurring.
Maybe it isn’t so odd when one determines that 63% of all positive detections of the program occurred between 2012-2014. Indeed , detections in 2014 had already been on track to be easiest the most of any year, with 46 positive detections up to July 2014 (20% of all detections since 2005!).
This can further be explained, that as the project developed, it appeared to more accurately target catchments where problems may be occurring. The most detections of any catchment occurred in the Panatana Rivulet located again near Port Sorell and these 36 detections all occurred after 2011. The nearby Rubicon River recorded 27 positive detections since 2011 – between them almost 28% of all positive samples – all in less than 3 years! Tuckers Creek in the state’s North East also recorded 27 positive samples since sampling also began there in 2011.
Port Sorell is a tourist drawcard in northern Tasmania. It has also been identified by Birdlife International as an important Bird Area, particularly for Pied Oyster catchers. One wonders if Birdlife International know that Panatana Rivulet and the Rubicon River are according to this study the most pesticide laden waterways in Tasmania?
The Rubicon River Irrigation District is serviced by the newly constructed Meander Dam. There is also a large dairy farm and vegetable growing presence in the catchment.
It will be interesting to see what farming bodies lobbied the Hodgman Government to axe the program, a decision which is short-sighted and has the interests of agricultural industry at heart. It is also interesting that despite over 200 positive detections over the 9 years that the program was active, no prosecutions for water pollution eventuated.
It would appear that the old-fashioned attitude of waterways being little more than agricultural drains again holds sway in Tasmania.
• New York Times: Pesticides Linked to Honeybee Deaths Pose More Risks, European Group Says
• John Dudley, in Comments: I am one of Dr John Wilson’s friends living in the Rubicon catchment and I am most certainly interested in the cessation of testing. My business was wiped out by off target 24D drift, I tried very hard to have the surface water that drained into the nearby Rubicon tested by the Ag dept to no avail. The ag officer who did the testing revealed to me that he thought that a boss in Hobart was fiddling the figures to make it appear that the problem was smaller than it was.
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