30 March 2011

Greens push inquiry into Lake Burley Griffin water quality

| johnboy
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Undeterred by the minor matter of Lake Burley Griffin not being controlled by the ACT Government the Greens’ Shane Rattenbury has announced he’s trying to set up an Environment Commission inquiry into it.

“We want the Commissioner for the Environment to investigate the source of the problems – we hear different versions from different Government agencies about what is causing the pollution, and it’s time to get to the bottom of it.”“It doesn’t help that the NCA, different parts of the ACT Government and even Queanbeyan City all have a role to play in managing the lake and what goes into it.

“Once we have a clear set of causes laid out, we can address them, and, if it is outside of the scope of the ACT Government, request other parties to lift their game.

“Local sporting events are increasingly being postponed, cancelled or moved interstate because of the deterioration of water quality, and ultimately the biodiversity values of the lake are being compromised.

“Lake closures are not only a real inconvenience for Canberra residents, but are having a tourism and economic impact on our city as national or international events go elsewhere,” Mr Rattenbury said.

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Captain RAAF said :

Robertson said :

Maybe they should emulate the Japs at Fukushima: increasing the health “limits” will decrease the frequency of sporting event cancellations.

Digging it out is a great idea, though – who knows, they might finally find David Eastman’s Ruger?

There would be all kinds of interesting stuff in there, believe me. Is there somewhere upstream where the water can be diverted?

You wouldn’t have too. Just open all the gates at Scrivener and the lake will drain soon enough back to the river it once was.
Any bets on how many bodies would be found if they did?

But would it actually improve anything?

Captain RAAF11:06 am 31 Mar 11

Robertson said :

Maybe they should emulate the Japs at Fukushima: increasing the health “limits” will decrease the frequency of sporting event cancellations.

Digging it out is a great idea, though – who knows, they might finally find David Eastman’s Ruger?

There would be all kinds of interesting stuff in there, believe me. Is there somewhere upstream where the water can be diverted?

Cool – draining the lake! That would be interesting to see what’s in there.

And on Canturf – given the price of chemicals I reckon they can’t afford to waste a drop. The ferterlizers spread around all the home gardens that drain into the lake are a much bigger contributer.

Pommy bastard said :

I wish someone would push the Greens into LBG.

Best solution I heard!

Maybe they should emulate the Japs at Fukushima: increasing the health “limits” will decrease the frequency of sporting event cancellations.

Digging it out is a great idea, though – who knows, they might finally find David Eastman’s Ruger?

Captain RAAF said :

It’s an ornamental lake, and like its kin Australia-wide, it’s too bloody shallow!!! If the pansies that dug it out initially actually had a go instead of just making a really wide shell scrape, we wouldn’t be having these problems!

Drain it, dig it out another 30 feet around the edge and to 80-100 feet at the centre and she’ll come good. The native fish will love it and the carp, which hate the cold, will die off. Deep lakes also don’t attract algal blooms, we won’t have as many people drowning in it due to getting tangled up in the weeds and we’ll have tonnes and tonnes of dirt to construct Stanhopes tomb/pyramid with.

What we need is for all canberrans to unite and have a good ol’ fashioned hole diggin’!

First suggestion from Captain RAAF I completely agree with (especially the bit about Stanhopes tomb/pyramid – can we do that soon?).

I think I need to go bleach my brain.

Pommy bastard10:27 am 31 Mar 11

I wish someone would push the Greens into LBG.

Yay! I hope this will result in a serious investigation. The problem is obviously getting worse so the sooner they find out why and put some strategies in place to reverse this, the better. But I’m not holding my breath of course…

Captain RAAF9:50 am 31 Mar 11

It’s an ornamental lake, and like its kin Australia-wide, it’s too bloody shallow!!! If the pansies that dug it out initially actually had a go instead of just making a really wide shell scrape, we wouldn’t be having these problems!

Drain it, dig it out another 30 feet around the edge and to 80-100 feet at the centre and she’ll come good. The native fish will love it and the carp, which hate the cold, will die off. Deep lakes also don’t attract algal blooms, we won’t have as many people drowning in it due to getting tangled up in the weeds and we’ll have tonnes and tonnes of dirt to construct Stanhopes tomb/pyramid with.

What we need is for all canberrans to unite and have a good ol’ fashioned hole diggin’!

I’ve heard a little whisper that Canturf is getting a free run in this issue. They dump thousands of litres of chemicals into the river which then flows to the lake and is a significant contributor to the Blue Green Algae.
I hope the Greens expose the Canturf flaunt for what it is.
They might have a sense of humour making people laugh with their witty signs but look behind the scenes and they are doing the wrong thing by us all.

“it’s time to get to the bottom of it.”

Isn’t that the main cause of the problem – the stuff coming out of Queanbeyan bottoms!

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