The Canberra Times warns that all the prozac in Canberran’s wee is hitting the fishies downstream of the Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre, and the current redevelopment won’t fix that.
Mind you there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of harmful effects, just an oblique reference to American studies.
And the nitrogen levels will be better, so that’s OK.
Anyway, because I’m in a Brooke-ian mood, and because it’s out of copyright, and because I can, here’s a poem for you all which I think is apposite:
- Heaven
Fish (fly-replete, in depth of June,
Dawdling away their wat’ry noon)
Ponder deep wisdom, dark or clear,
Each secret fishy hope or fear.
Fish say, they have their Stream and Pond;
But is there anything Beyond?
This life cannot be All, they swear,
For how unpleasant, if it were!
One may not doubt that, somehow, Good
Shall come of Water and of Mud;
And, sure, the reverent eye must see
A Purpose in Liquidity.
We darkly know, by Faith we cry,
The future is not Wholly Dry.
Mud unto mud! — – Death eddies near — –
Not here the appointed End, not here!
But somewhere, beyond Space and Time.
Is wetter water, slimier slime!
And there (they trust) there swimmeth One
Who swam ere rivers were begun,
Immense, of fishy form and mind,
Squamous, omnipotent, and kind;
And under that Almighty Fin,
The littlest fish may enter in.
Oh! never fly conceals a hook,
Fish say, in the Eternal Brook,
But more than mundane weeds are there,
And mud, celestially fair;
Fat caterpillars drift around,
And Paradisal grubs are found;
Unfading moths, immortal flies,
And the worm that never dies.
And in that Heaven of all their wish,
There shall be no more land, say fish.
— Rupert Brooke 1913-15
UPDATED: ACTEW have seen fit to push out a media release explaining what they’re doing:
- The upgrade means LMWQCC will be able to cater for a growing population and set the plant up to meet more stringent licence requirements should these be required in the future. The new equipment will bring with it environmental benefits such as reduced nitrogen levels.
The upgrade involves installing two new anoxic tanks and three more clarifiers, all being standard equipment on wastewater treatment facilities. The water will remain tertiary treated water, meaning it is suitable for discharge to inland waterways (such as the Murrumbidgee River), but is not treated to a level suitable for drinking purposes. The project is due for completion in 2010.
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