EPA says waterways are safe but locals remained concerned

THE NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) says its testing has found that forestry operations in Little Newry State Forest near Valla have not impacted the water quality in nearby rivers and creeks.

The EPA said it undertook three rounds of testing at six locations within the forest and in nearby Oyster and Dalhousie Creeks.

It followed community concerns that forestry activities near two small historical mineral prospecting sites had led to elevated levels of arsenic in the streams within the forest and further downstream in the Oyster Creek estuary.

NSW EPA Director Technical Services Sonya Errington, said arsenic concentrations did not exceed guideline values in any water samples from the forest streams immediately downstream of the harvest areas.

“Arsenic concentrations were below the recreational water quality guideline values in all samples from Oyster Creek estuary, indicating that they do not pose a risk to people swimming or wading in the creek,” she said.

“There were elevated levels of arsenic in one sediment sample from the forest streams, which shows that historically arsenic has been present in this area long-term and fits with the natural geology of the area.

“We also found arsenic levels at Oyster Creek that exceeded the guideline value for aquatic ecosystem health.”

She said this is not unexpected and in mineralised catchments the aquatic ecosystem typically adapts to the naturally elevated levels of metals in the waterways.

“The catchments in the forest, where more harvesting occurred, had lower levels of arsenic than other waterways we tested, so there are no indications that forestry operations have increased arsenic levels.”

As someone who raised initial concerns, Jodi Armytage is less than satisfied.

She said the EPA test results show toxic Arsenic (V) concentrations in Oyster Creek have reached dangerous levels.

According to the Australian Water Quality Guidelines and CSIRO research, approximately 55 percent of marine life will have suffered acute arsenic toxicity.

She said the EPA’s conclusion that logging did not cause this contamination is deeply flawed because no baseline water tests were conducted before logging began to compare, despite community requests.

Ms Armytage said community sampling has well-documented high levels of arsenic from Little Newry immediately post-logging, and the subsequent flush-outs towards Oyster Creek after heavy rain.

“Despite the severity of the contamination, the EPA has not yet advised whether fish and crabs from Oyster Creek are safe to consume.”

More information about the testing can be found on the EPA website.

By Andrew VIVIAN