Hurry Save The Murray!

The “Acid Trip”, David Winderlich’s catchy title for another successful event in Murray March, caught the imagination of the media and there was a buzz in the community. The bus tour of some 20 Adelaide residents who came to learn more of the Acid Sulfate Soils in the Lake Alexandrina and Finniss River area left Adelaide around 9.30am and headed for Lake Alexandrina. Along the way a number of residents of Milang, Clayton, Finniss and Point Sturt the trippers.

The Currency Creek, Finniss River, Tookayerta Creek and Black Swamp region, of South Australia is the subject of a recent CSIRO Report and the SA Government has proposed a combination of weirs and embankments to manage the risk posed by the Acid Sulfate Soils (ASS). The River, Lakes and Coorong Action Group has been critical of these proposals

Milang: At their first stop, the trippers learned about the “Save the Turtles Project” from the children of the Milang Campus of Eastern Fleurieu School and Chris Jackson. Together they have saved some 1,000 turtles, received a number of awards and are linked to the international Jane Goodall “Roots and Shoots” program. See www.moshcc.com.au for more information.

The initiative, achievements and the international networks of these enthusiastic and knowledgeable youngsters impressed the trippers who began to talk about exchanges with Adelaide schools.

Karyn Bradford, Co-ordinator, Milang Old School House Community Centre (MOSHCC) briefed the group about the “Bio-remediation and Green Jobs Package” that will bring jobs to the region and make a start on implementing the Low Intervention Strategy for saving the Lower Lakes.

Diane Bell, Professor of anthropology, member of the River, Lakes and Coorong Action Group Inc, Vice Chair, Finniss Catchment Group Inc. and Keith Walker, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide joined the bus and were on hand to answer questions and the questions were coming thick and fast.

The group viewed the newly created “Milang Beach” and regrowth along the foreshore, heard about the Snipe Sanctuary (a local community initiative) and began to ask questions about Australia’s responsibilities under the Ramsar Convention of 1971. See Australia’s River

The bus took the trippers around the shore of Lake Alexandrina, past Kindaruar, a nursery (wetland) where Cape Barron Geese, that breed on remote Furneaux Islands in Bass Strait, have congregated for eons. None arrived this year. The area is dry and the lake edge hundred of metres away.

Point Sturt: At the next stop the group visited Anne Hartnett’s property on Point Sturt, saw the foreshore sites identified in 2008 as Acid Sulfate Soils (ASS) and the regrowth through the ASS.

Here the soil had pH of 2.5 (at the depth of the spade) but the next layer of grey mud was 8.5. A pH of 7 is neutral. Left alone these soils are safe and nature is doing a good job of keeping them safe. The natural regrowth after recent rains is holding and covering the ground and thus, as long as the soils are not disturbed, the ASS remain PASS, i.e. Potential Acid Sulfate Soils. Interestingly the pH of the Lake is around 8 and that indicates that the calcium carbonates in the water are acting as a buffer.

It was clear at this site and others we visited that the acid being produced in the soils is not entering the water body. On a number of occasions, the CSIRO scientists have noted that the connectivity process (from ASS to water body) is not yet fully understood. Surely this is an argument for ensuring soils are not disturbed, regrowth is encouraged and plantings undertaken before the winter rains. It is upsetting that the CSIRO monitors have not returned to this site for further investigation.

Clayton Bay: Here the trippers stopped to photograph the cracked soils of Snug Cove and the sign declaring the site to be a Ramsar protected site and bird sanctuary. The wind whipped along the exposed shore and a mere trickle of water was flowing in from Lake Alexandrina.

By 1:00 pm the trippers were ready for the lunch prepared from local produce by the community team of Suzy Rex, Carole Richardson and Liz Tregenza. It was a working lunch with talks by local experts. Carole Richardson, Clayton Bay Foreshore Committee, spoke of their work in caring for the newly exposed sandy beaches and Marian Thompson of the local bird population. John and Liz Yelland shared their local knowledge in photographs and scale model of the proposed Pomanda Weir.

The trippers climbed to the site of the old Clayton water tower, looked up the Finniss River and Currency Creek and noted the force with which the wind was moving the water through the channel between Clayton Bay and Hindmarsh Island. They then contemplated the impact a 2.5 metre weir wall across that channel would have: dry sand on the Lake Alexandrina side and a new weir pool on the Goolwa side.

Back in December 2008, Adelaideans had partnered with locals to plant native species on the newly exposed beach at Clayton Bay. Despite the lack of rain and the scorching temperatures over summer, the native grasses are flourishing and holding the soils. What is now needed to large scale planting along the lines of the Bioremediation and Green Jobs Package.

Finniss River 1: Bruce and Annette Allnutt on the Finniss River, showed the trippers the densely vegetated landscape that once was a lagoon in front of their place. It’s difficult to believe that this expanse is ASS.

Finniss River 2: The low crossing over the Finniss. The river upstream of the crossing in partly spring fed and locals note that it always flowed. Now it stops when the pumps start and resumes when they stop. The relationship between ground water and surface water has not been sufficiently documented but local knowledge suggests that the aquifers are being depleted.

Finniss River 3: The ASS at Wally’s Landing was identified in November 2008 and Dr Rob Fitzpatrick predicted the pH would drop to 1.5 (battery acid) by early 2009. This proved to be correct. The trippers were interested to see that the pH of the soils under the landing was indeed 1.5 but the water was near 8.0 and the banks were in the mid pH7 range. Again it would appear to make more sense to manage these soils rather than place regulators/embankments/weirs across the river.

Finniss River 4: A Spring -fed site on property of John and Liz Tregenza Goolwa and back to Adelaide.

“I had no idea how much was happening down here on Lake Alexandrina,“ said one of the trippers. “The community spirit is impressive and there is so much that can be done and is being done to save the Lakes,” said another.

The message from the locals was “treat the ASS hot spots”, plant, mulch and lime if necessary but do not cut up the river system with more weirs.