The George River Water Quality Panel has found there are no water quality issues in the George River, giving a clean bill of health for treated drinking water to the local community and ruling out fears of a cancer cluster in the St Helens area, pesticides in the water as well as Eucalyptus nitens toxicant issues for local oyster growers. However, the Panel has recommended to the State Government that improved and coordinated management and administration of the waters in the St Helens catchment area should be implemented as a priority.
Dr Graeme Batley said the bottom line is that there is no indication that the treated water is not safe to drink at St Helens. "In essence the panel found that the river foam samples that were referred to in the Australian Story report broadcast by the ABC in February this year were not representative of the naturally occurring water in the Georges River," Dr Batley said.
"The method that was used to sample the foam concentrated the sample so much that it became toxic when tested on sensitive water organisms. "There are very minor levels of naturally occurring toxicants in the George River like any other catchment area, but at naturally occurring levels they pose no health risk to the community.
"All water bodies have a very thin film of less than 0.3 mm on the surface which contains ‘insoluble’ organic matter including surfactants and when mixed with air held in the water
and rising to the surface they can form foam bubbles. The foams were what the Scammell Bleaney report said were a major source of toxicants. "So, yes there are toxicants in the water, but at naturally occurring levels they pose no health risk to the community."
