The promise of Little Venice: so toxic no one will touch it

[depakid]

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/04/25/alexandriacanal_narrowweb__300x450,0.jpg
Death in Sydney … tourists won't be flocking to the Alexandra Canal in Sydney's south.

"T WAS once billed as the Venice of Sydney. Eight years on, one of the most contaminated waterways in the southern hemisphere remains so toxic that government documents warn not to touch it.

One briefing note from the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) describes the canal, which runs from Alexandria to meet the Cooks River west of the international terminal, as "the most severely contaminated canal in the southern hemisphere".

Another warns: "The sediments are toxic. The do-not-disturb action is justified and any dredging will increase the risk because the deeper sediments are generally more contaminated than the upper layers of sediment."

The Alexandra Canal, a four-kilometre man-made waterway that was once used for disposing of industrial waste, has had a "do not disturb" direction on it for at least 10 years, and has had a complete fishing ban since 2000 because of the contamination.

Many reports were written around the time that the former minister for urban affairs, Andrew Refshauge, released an ambitious master plan for the canal, promising to "treat the pollution and develop the canalside with footpaths and bike tracks".

The City of Sydney Council's 2030 plan proposes parklands and residential and commercial development along the margins, making it "a beautiful place to walk, cycle and live".

But Mr Refshauge's dreams have not materialised and the Department of Environment and Climate Change maintains that rehabilitation could do more harm than good because the most toxic sediments are likely to be on the bottom of the canal.

A department spokesman, John Dengate, said the canal was "not an unusual industrial legacy" of the Western world. "Often the worst thing you can do to it is stir it up," he said, adding that it would be "hugely expensive" to remediate.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/water-issues/promised-little-venice-were-stuck-with-this/2008/04/25/1208743249028.html

[derby378]

1. So, uh, the solution is to not do a damn thing about it?

Great. It's the Chernobyl soultion. I feel so much safer now...

[depakid]

2. There's a similar situation off Palos Verdes in California

with a large swarth of sediments containing DDT and PCB's.

Basically, what you DON'T want to do do is stir it up- so essentially all you can really do is attempt to "cap it" with clean sediments, which is extremely expensive, and only results in mitigation, as opposed to "clean up."

I wouldn't be eating any bottom fish from that area So Cal any time soon, that for sure.

http://www.epa.gov/region09/features/pvshelf/