Floodwater brings bacteria cocktail
Floodwater travelling through the Murray-Darling Basin is bringing with it a cocktail of potential health risks and slowing down water treatment.
Floodwater travelling through the Murray-Darling Basin is bringing with it a cocktail of potential health risks and slowing down water treatment.
As Torrumbarry resident Tuesday Browell worked together with family and friends to sandbag her property on the rising Murray River in late October and early November, she found herself wading through brown water thick with manure from neighbouring farms and an unknown mix of chemicals and sewerage from inundated septic systems upstream.
With the water almost a metre high in and around her house, it was difficult to salvage property without exposing herself to it.
“The water is too high for gumboots. We were sandbagging and trying to save things and we were wet every day for eight days,” she said.
Soon everyone helping out had itchy skin.
“All of us got a skin rash on our legs,” she said.
The property, which relied on river water and rainwater for washing and drinking, was now inaccessible except by boat, and Ms Browell said she may need to ferry clean water supplies in.
She is one of thousands of people living in flood affected areas who have been warned to avoid contact with flood water and “make alternative arrangements” for water to drink and wash in.
Goulburn Murray Water has warned untreated water is not suitable for drinking, food preparation or showering as it may contain dead animals, wastewater, and other debris.
In Shepparton, the Victorian Environment Protection Authority on Monday tested E. coli levels in the Goulburn River at almost four times above guideline standards.
Testing at other sites found faecal matter in the water but at “generally low levels”.
Downstream on the Lower Murray, water provider Lower Murray Water asked customers to use less water due to contamination slowing down treatment.
LMW interim managing director Paul O’Donohue assured customers the water was safe to use.
The company was forced to issue boil water notices due to blackwater following the 2016 floods, and again in 2019 due to blue green algae.
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