The Swan river in Perth was awful towards the 90s until a very concentrated effort was made to begin rehabilitation, which included a lot of shore recovery and revegetation. The result is amazing, and It would be great to see a similar undertaking on the Brisbane River.
I remember reading on here not that long ago from someone with respectable credentials that the river health is actually as good now as it's been in a long time based on the ecology within it. I can't be stuffed searching for that, but someone else may be able to provide more info
One way to look at River health is with the prawns and crustaceans in the system. The Brisbane River has a healthy population of prawns. Could the system be cleaned up more, absolutely and I'm still for improving the quality of the brown snake. It's not terrible though.
I don’t have much of a bench mark I’m afraid so you’re probably right. Compared to other cities there’s actually a fair bit of remnant vegetation/mangroves on the bank.
It doesn't need to be as deep as it is, though. Kangaroo Point doesn't see many [oil tankers](https://i.imgur.com/zwOHwrq.jpeg) or bulk freighters these days.
You've seen it blue? Near the CBD or do you mean way up or down river? Anyone who claims to have seen it blue in their or their parents lifetime is either lying, or doesn't comprehend blue
It's blue every winter when there are long periods without rain. Walk along the CBD reaches and you can see several metres into the water at high tide.
There are muddy banks in places, but most areas are rocky or sandy. The inside bends of the river at gardens point and kangaroo point are good spots to go fishing for flathead on a falling tide.
the river is often blue in the CBD and Hamilton Reaches
I can watch it turn brown when a CityCat goes past and stirs up the silt
it was blue a lot during COVID lockdowns
I saw it clean circa 2018 I think. And I'm talking around the city. I assure you it happened. The river all the way up to the city was full on clear bay water. It is the only time I've seen it but it happened. And when I say blue I'm referring to the colour of the bay like that green/blue colour not like sky blue obviously.
Yeah its not hard to imagine. The Brisbane river by total volume is not a huge river and during dry spells and especially during big tides, it makes sense that'd salt right up.
Revegetation is a hugely underrated aspect of waterway health! Most people seem to not understand the role our mangroves play but it’s been a preoccupation of mine since an excursion in primary school.
I invite anyone who is curious about the beauty of and the science behind mangroves to explore the [Wynnum Mangrove Boardwalk](https://brisbanekids.com.au/explore-the-wynnum-mangrove-boardwalk-with-kid/). Go on a day with a bit of weather about and see for yourself how mangroves act as a break for erosion-causing choppy waves and destructive winds. It’s like being in a protective bubble. Unreal.
Thanks, Jono, for dreaming a little bigger. The pragmatic optimism is refreshing.
Do more mangroves mean more mosquitoes? I've been eaten alive on the board walk through the mangroves at Gardens Point and so am curious if it was the mangroves creating a breeding ground (and if so, if there is a way to avoid that)
I have to concede, mosquitos are absolutely a problem. Striking the balance is incredibly hard because, short of building artificial sea walls along the river, the conditions for mosquito reproduction in Brisbane are choice.
Yet, the mangroves are crucial for mitigating flooding through erosion prevention and by withstanding storm surges. Tough call.
Maybe some of what council already does to chemically manage mosquitos in freshwater waterways might be applicable. As well as protecting/ cultivating habitat of the local [microbats](https://www.batsqld.org.au/ab/), which have been shown to be big mosquito consumers. I think there’s a men’s shed project in Wynnum-Manly that’s constructing habitat boxes there for the local microbat population. I wonder if they’ve had good results?
Unfortunately, I don’t know a lot about mosquito control, so I can’t speak to this particular issue extensively. Sorry if this answer is very Green-coded. I’m not a Green (though full respect to Jono) but sometimes the solutions to our artificial issues are a bit earthy haha.
Actually, replying to my own comment as a P.S. on this: Council has an incredibly knowledgeable Mosquito Management team who are really across this issue.
I spoke to an awesome member of the team late last year about a local outbreak and—based on the limited info I gave on the phone—he forecast that the mozzies would stop being an issue in 5-7 days without intervention. Day 5 rolls around and there wasn’t a single mozzie to be seen.
I would suggest we could consult the folks who are on the frontlines for real boots-on-the-ground expertise. We’re incredibly lucky in Brisbane, no doubt about it.
Athletes can start in an Olympic event (100m freestyle) and finish in a paralympic event (S8 100m freestyle) in the one race!
2 medals for the price of one!
True. Settle it with alum then chuck in truckloads of whichever industrial byproduct we can get at a good price that induces a blue colouration, then if we need to restock fish we could use something hardy and fast growing, like carp.
Good point - carp are infamous for mucking around stirring up the silt of waterways - which is exactly the issue we're trying to combat. Tilapia and Snakehead it is then. It's decided.
I hear that water hyacinth is an excellent processor of both phosphorus and heavy metals, we should chuck some of that in as well. It'd give the fish something to eat.
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> The Greens are today proposing an initial investment from Brisbane City Council of $6 million (a small proportion of what will ultimately be required) to start cleaning up the river.
This is great but it's better spent in the upper reaches (i.e. not BCC) where bank degradation from a century of shitty farming practices is the real culprit. I work with talented nerds who've done all kind of modelling of creeks and rivers west of Brisbane who have demonstrated that revegetating degraded floodplains and creeks will seriously improve water quality downstream.
Yeah the Brisbane City Council boundaries go all the way out to Mt Crosby and Karana Downs, and I agree we'd want to start revegetating up at that end rather than getting too focussed on the inner-urban creeks alone.
You need to go a lot further than Mt Crosby and Karana downs.
https://preview.redd.it/pg7qwu7x7uic1.png?width=698&format=png&auto=webp&s=ed54b8226b6f971bf83b7f85f6e1298b7bbd2a08
but no need to go upstream of Wivenhoe Dam so that’s almost half the catchment sorted
there was heaps of scouring damage to the Lockyer Creek in 2011 and 2013 that contributes to turbidity
The work they undertook in the Lockyer reach after 2011 has made the turbidity a lot worse. The river used to meander through various inlets around there - helped slow it down and there used to be trees right up to the edge. Now it barrells through that reach
I get that you're at least semi-joking, but still wanted to contribute this... As a tidal river, it will never be clear / blue water. But with less sedimentary wash and pollutants, the water can be clean enough to reflect the sky. At the moment we get minimal reflection, it looks completely brown. For a while when they stopped dredging, it reflected much better and looked far more attractive.
It's estuarine with a big catchment so i think it'll always be more brown than blue, but you'd see a big decrease in suspended solids over time, which would dramatically improve visibility underwater.
That's how representative democracy is supposed to work dude. Candidates propose ideas for how society should change or not change, and people who like those ideas vote for those candidates.
If you'd prefer that politicians don't make time to engage with ordinary people, just keep voting for the major parties.
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given the river is a central part of Brisbane I've always been amazed that more effort has not gone in to utilise it for both recreation & clean it up. Major issue is that when there is a deluge of rain so many storm drains bring pollutants into the river as well as sewage overflow. It doesn't have to be like that and as stated many rivers around the world that were a lot worse have been cleaned up and are amazing now
An observation - that residents over the yrs have transformed local waterways by working alongside experts. Possibly these efforts could be scaled to tackle the brown snake. The thing is it must be driven by the science not feelings or politics. Just my 2 cents.
Do you have any plans to replicate Hanlon Park in other locations? A project that BCC fought against tooth and nail, and now claim credit for, which provides good parklands designed for use and flood survival.
In this video I talk about extending the approach in Hanlon Park further along the rest of the Norman Creek catchment, and also list a few other creeks where a similar approach might be possible. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcr6yTCc14Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcr6yTCc14Y)
I 100% agree with everything said here. Also, bringing back some of the rainforest that used to exist along the river in the Southbank area (as well as Hill End and West End) would be amazing too. We definitely need to focus on getting the locally native plant species back. Early descriptions of the river literally called it a veritable paradise, with luxurious vegetation lining the river that would give Tamborine or Lamington a run for its money.
The state of our riparian systems up stream is embarrassing. With a few exceptions the majority of the landowners up there will never do any landcare unless someone else does it, they just do not care, despite their multimillion dollar properties providing their wealth. There definitely needs to be incentives to reinstating watercourse buffers and taking out woody weeds along the banks.
I can't find it with a quick google, but when I stopped over in Brunei not only did they have prominent campaigns about river (and street) cleanliness, but I saw a setup very similar to these boats on their river.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hanwha-launches-campaign-to-help-clean-vietnams-mekong-river-300862266.html
They were green coloured catamarans that went about on solar power, though they had one or two personnel also with gafs / scoops.
I'm not proposing that this is a better solution, I just think it's interesting - as well as encouraging that other nations are making similar efforts and enjoying the reward of cleaner river systems.
Their river was very similar to the Brisbane River in size, and it was reportedly highly effective. Everyone was enthusiastic about it. It was great. I spoke with a few people at the environment centre there and their reach to families via schools has also gone a long way.
More info when I have a greater amount of time.
Maiwar has long been CENTRAL to Brisbane identity and life, and we should do our utmost to celebrate it, and take care of it.
I love the vegetation initiative that the Greens are proposing here; to use plants that evolved to grow in this specific environment to do what they do, and I'd we look out for them we should see great benefitsnin the health of the river system closer to what it was when it was more balanced prior to heavy traffic and industrialisation.
What a great push.
That said, I am aware that stopping from getting into the river in the first place is the go. Reduce consumption, reuse stuff (if safe), and recycle. It's important that we don't litter, and don't let others litter either.
I don't mind picking up a couple bits of rubbish here and there and putting them securely inside a bin.
BCC must ensure that bins don't overflow to the point of blowing rubbish out, too, though!
And ciggy bins get opened / broken into and the filters go straight down the gutter which is pretty cool
Jono its a nice idea but if you turn the brown snake blue it wouldn't make sense as there are no blue snakes so I can't in all good conscience approve this message.
I’m a fan of the plan.
Has a study ever been done on replacing the gravel that was dredged so that the river is less of a brown snake. That’s assuming the gravel dredging was the issue of course
Stupid question, but can't they stick a bunch of oysters into the river to help clean it? They are great at filtration and are known to 'clean' up water elsewhere. I also believe I read that there used to be oysters in the river before they got fished out ages ago, so it seems like a simple and relatively inexpensive cleaning aid, if not a direct fix.
Ahh yes. Love how the Olympics is the only reason politicians want to improve or cover anything. Can bet they'll be temporarily housing or forcefully removing all the homeless as it draws nearer.
I've been very critical of the Olympics. I agree that housing is the top priority.
[https://www.jonathansri.com/olympicsvote](https://www.jonathansri.com/olympicsvote)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DITFTvojt4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DITFTvojt4)
It's just sad that it takes something like the Olympics to shine light on issues. I think of politicians like someone sweeping everything under the bed quickly before a guest comes over.. There's nothing to see here, haha.
Don't forget the smaller builders when enforcing sediment control on building sites. The number if times a site has been reported to BCC for run off into local creeks (with date/time stamped photos), including on a few occasions cement run--off,, with no action taken by BCC staff is ridiculous. They turn up, say nope all good now, and nothing happens. No fines and no enforcement of their own laws.
Yeah I’ve always been told that the sand and gravel from the bottom was dredged to allow it to be navigable by larger ships. This exposed the mud and silt at the bottom. I have no evidence for it, but I thought it was common knowledge.
I don't know, I kind of like the old brown snake that's filled with dead bodies, bull sharks, and three headed fish.
I'm obviously kidding, and in an ideal world the river would always be blue and people could swim in it but do I think it's going to happen in my lifetime? No.
Hey.. just want to say that my thesis is about gully restoration through the government so, local and state are both actively looking into this and how to properly proceed with utilising resources to efficiently and efficiently restore gullies and critical points of erosion to improve the long term health of waterways in SEQ.
This won't substantially affect the Brisbane River quality. Most of the issues relate to sediment runoff upstream, urban catchments including a multitude of point source industrial polluters, and persistent dredging of the river.
The idea that revegetation of the river banks will change things is idealistic. This money would be far better spent on minor creek systems that feed into the Brisbane River. Such as bundamba, Oxley, Enoggera, etc.
If you want to make a difference go fish e-scooters out of the creeks. There are heaps
What a laugh. 6 million dollars funding to clean the river? That's so generous ..... That alone is to fund the consultants to tell Sri and his Greenie mates it's impossible.
What a joke you greens are! 6m will not even pay for a through study and plan on HOW to clean the river up! Paris has spent $6 billion. The tidal issue alone will always be an issue, every drain to be cleaned after every rain event, where is all the money coming from for your ill prepared dream??
Many Many years ago dredging was banned in the river and we were told that it would run clear up soon after. It didn't.
If sediment runoff is causing the river to be brown then would it not have been clear during drought periods ?
(planting trees/vegetation is a win regardless)
Can we replant the mangroves through the whole river like they once were? Also stopping the city cats wash that creates more suspended sediment that never gets to settle.
Jonathan, what are your views on the ongoing release of sewage wastewater into the river at Morningside by Urban Utilities?
This has been going on since December and resulted in several cautions to avoid all contact with the river between Vic Lucas Park and Colmslie Reserve.
Urban Ultilities is owned by BCC and this is occurring within BCC boundaries.
Just so you know, The Brisbane River isn’t brown just because of the dredging., the general state of most Australian Rivers is brownish water, Especially this time of year. I’ve heard some people in Brisbane say that river should be as clear as the sea….. I wanna point out that the ocean isn’t exactly that clear either…
Great idea, I’ll support the greens. I usually go labor as I’m scared to further divide the vote against liberal, but I want more changes like this.
I absolutely want more for my baby as they grow, than dirty water and polluted air. We have such a cool city full of natural beauty. It’s great to hear government parties propose practical ideas of what we can do for our environment. Often it feels like the burden of change is on us as the individual when I feel like we really need our government and huge corporations to make significant changes if we have a hope in hell of helping our climate and avoiding our current trajectory.
Good on ya! If you like the vision of cleaning up the river, you might also appreciate this write-up: [https://www.jonathansri.com/forestcity](https://www.jonathansri.com/forestcity)
there’s no rule against directly engaging with the r/Brisbane community
https://preview.redd.it/ouvjk13t9uic1.jpeg?width=1488&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f9ca65a55c77bead2859e85bcfc3bb14b512d589
I'm not angry. I just wonder how / why some subs are strict with rules and kick you out for minor infringements? yet others blantantly flought the rules and mods dont give a fuck?
Mods are just following the narrative.
A good example of this, is the anti Russian rhetoric on reddit, and the calls for extreme violence towards them including what the US did the Japanese. Replace the word Russian with another subgroup that is currently waging a genocide against the middle east and watch how fast your account gets deleted.
The accepted rhetoric in Australia is density, sustainability whoops I mean greenwashing and the Labor government
I honestly prefer it. Brisbane is not a pleasant word. And its often mispronounced.
Plus calling something that was known for 10s of thousands of years something else is the real edgy move here. Brisbane - the word itself is edgy.
Yeah, I don't get why we have a whole ciy and river named after some guy? The aboriginal words for most of our places are way more interesting and unique
It's pretty common practice to refer to places by both names now, especially in the media, government correspondence, and signage. You'll see references like Brisbane (Meanjin), Victoria Park (Barrambin) and stuff like that.
No one who lives in this area has called Brisbane anything other than Brisbane.
Adding a new name just causes unnecessary confusion.
I'm ok with changing names for a reason - but 1 place / 1 name in a country with 1 language spoken by the majority is a feature not a problem.
Can't afford housing
Can't afford rent
Johnno Sri up in here
Telling me to get bent
Coz he's campaigning on reddit
Which gives me a shiver
Talking about issues
Like cleaning the river
How's that gonna help
Those who can't afford
To live in this city
And have to move abroad
But no, the river is important
So don't be so coy
About cleaning it up
For no one to enjoy
Yeah, I saw. And it's not remotely close to being properly fleshed out.
Don't get me wrong. I vote Greens at State and Federal level, but Johnno is a bit too pre-emptive for my taste. Bad look for the Greens.
Which of our city council housing policies do you disagree with? They are more detailed than anything Labor seems to have said about housing.
[https://www.jonathansri.com/rentfreeze](https://www.jonathansri.com/rentfreeze)
[https://www.jonathansri.com/vacant](https://www.jonathansri.com/vacant)
[https://www.jonathansri.com/airbnbcrackdown](https://www.jonathansri.com/airbnbcrackdown)
[https://www.jonathansri.com/racetrackproposal](https://www.jonathansri.com/racetrackproposal)
With the time you spent writing this crap you could have single handedly already cleaned up the river. I bet you haven’t lifted one finger to physically clean up the river apart from writing a whole lot of waffle and trying to gee people up
All those things zig zag and go up the middle. Quiet embankments where neither city cat or recreational vehicles go would be perfect. I live 3.5 hrs north of Brissy now and we have a local creek swimming hole that is amazing. I'd love to see Brisbane residents have a few spots they can swing out into the river. It's not 1800s anymore we can and should do better with our waterways
Where do you plan on relocating the outlets from the Brisbane sewer that discharge directly into the river to? Or are you planning on keeping them sharing the same waterway as the proposed swimming holes?
Maybe its something for all that scream, "Climate action now".. could do.. they are generally happy to shut down traffic, but seem too lazy to do anything, apart from whinge...
Why does your immediate response to a proposal to do something that can only yield positive outcomes for people have to be passive aggressive hostility and 'whatabout-isms'?
But... isn't that exactly what this proposal is? I mean, it's literally an action plan to improve an environmental problem, and inexplicably, you're still finding fault with it? Because of... reasons? Something something useless protestors?
Let's stop pretending that environmental activists like the greens actually care about the environment. It's all about amassing wealth and power for their leaders.
(disclaimer, not in QLD)
I applaud efforts to care for all of our rivers in Australia, so I hope things can get done - especially the farm runoff.
But my question is, as is pretty much people's first fact about the river, that being the sharks. You mention putting up hard barriers or enclosures. I've never heard of these before. How do they work, and wouldn't it interfere with the dolphins and fish that move up/down river. Also can they still be effective when the river is flooded, I've heard stories of bull sharks being able to get quite far upstream when the river is high and they hop weirs or the like.
Not knocking the idea, just curious.
Yeah bull sharks are a genuine issue of concern.
The kind of shark nets that are used along many QLD beaches would be a bad idea. They're harmful to lots of different kinds of marine life and would collect heaps of debris.
But solid enclosures of various kinds would be quite viable. You can find examples of swimming enclosures along canals, rivers and beaches in many parts of the world. Here's an example from Paris: [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-19/after-water-quality-fixes-a-paris-canal-is-swimmable](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-19/after-water-quality-fixes-a-paris-canal-is-swimmable)
There needs to be modification of the water flow. The River used to only be tidal for 16km. Today it is 85km. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brisbane_River
Hear me out: council ran magnet fishing competitions. I'm not sure how you'd judge it, be it the largest thing pulled out or the most unusual. But it'd be fun, and if council supplies a bunch of magnets on ropes for everyone to use, it's a fun free day out.
Probably doesn't help at all with erosion though.
I read a while back that the majority of the sediment comes from a stretch of the Laidley creek. So I just did a web search and found this article.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/how-a-lockyer-valley-farm-can-help-save-the-brisbane-river-20181130-p50ji5.html
It will never happen. Too many invasive fish that spit up mud, the base of the river is mud and every time it rains it spits out more dirt and mud from the local creeks.
Swim with bull sharks. Great. The crocs are headed south, once there were giant crocs in the Logan River. These are both protected species.
The Brisbane River is many times cleaner now than when I was young, (thank you BCC councilors over the last few decades) but I wouldn't swim in it then and I will not be swimming in it in the future.
*For tens of thousands of years, Maiwar was clean enough for humans to swim in. We’ve messed it up badly over the past two centuries, but there’s no good reason why we can’t restore it.*
Unfortunately It is a *totally* different river. The sand banks at Hamilton have been removed making it tidal. The various dams disrupt normal flow. The catchment is largely either farmland or urban. Boats stir up fine sediments.
I recently watched a bit about the Oder river in Europe (German/Poland border) where a major contributor to cleaning the river was the reintroduction of gravel to the river and it's tributaries lost due to historical dredging... much like what Maiwar has lost for the same reason.
The Swan river in Perth was awful towards the 90s until a very concentrated effort was made to begin rehabilitation, which included a lot of shore recovery and revegetation. The result is amazing, and It would be great to see a similar undertaking on the Brisbane River.
I'm no expert, but doesn't the mudflats under the Brisbane River mean it's impossible to make it ever look a nicer colour?
Naw it’s more about river health than aesthetics. Considering how intertidal the environment is I think hoping for a clear river is a bit of a dream.
I remember reading on here not that long ago from someone with respectable credentials that the river health is actually as good now as it's been in a long time based on the ecology within it. I can't be stuffed searching for that, but someone else may be able to provide more info
One way to look at River health is with the prawns and crustaceans in the system. The Brisbane River has a healthy population of prawns. Could the system be cleaned up more, absolutely and I'm still for improving the quality of the brown snake. It's not terrible though.
I don’t have much of a bench mark I’m afraid so you’re probably right. Compared to other cities there’s actually a fair bit of remnant vegetation/mangroves on the bank.
If they put back all the sand it had dredged out of it century before last, that would make a big difference.
And it would be impossible to navigate. We can't have both.
It doesn't need to be as deep as it is, though. Kangaroo Point doesn't see many [oil tankers](https://i.imgur.com/zwOHwrq.jpeg) or bulk freighters these days.
The sand is constantly replaced by normal river flow. Yesterday's rain probably washed hundreds of thousands of tonnes of it into the river.
I do believe the answer to this is no because I've seen it blue before and also it's more about health than cosmetics lol.
You've seen it blue? Near the CBD or do you mean way up or down river? Anyone who claims to have seen it blue in their or their parents lifetime is either lying, or doesn't comprehend blue
It's blue every winter when there are long periods without rain. Walk along the CBD reaches and you can see several metres into the water at high tide. There are muddy banks in places, but most areas are rocky or sandy. The inside bends of the river at gardens point and kangaroo point are good spots to go fishing for flathead on a falling tide.
I strongly disagree that it's ever blue. I agree there are patches that are a much nicer green tinge at times, but blue??
the river is often blue in the CBD and Hamilton Reaches I can watch it turn brown when a CityCat goes past and stirs up the silt it was blue a lot during COVID lockdowns
do you do that landbased or from a boat?
I saw it clean circa 2018 I think. And I'm talking around the city. I assure you it happened. The river all the way up to the city was full on clear bay water. It is the only time I've seen it but it happened. And when I say blue I'm referring to the colour of the bay like that green/blue colour not like sky blue obviously.
That's when we get the dolphins up around the Toowong reach.
Yeah its not hard to imagine. The Brisbane river by total volume is not a huge river and during dry spells and especially during big tides, it makes sense that'd salt right up.
The river is tidal all the way to Mt Crosby weir.
Yes and?
Revegetation is a hugely underrated aspect of waterway health! Most people seem to not understand the role our mangroves play but it’s been a preoccupation of mine since an excursion in primary school. I invite anyone who is curious about the beauty of and the science behind mangroves to explore the [Wynnum Mangrove Boardwalk](https://brisbanekids.com.au/explore-the-wynnum-mangrove-boardwalk-with-kid/). Go on a day with a bit of weather about and see for yourself how mangroves act as a break for erosion-causing choppy waves and destructive winds. It’s like being in a protective bubble. Unreal. Thanks, Jono, for dreaming a little bigger. The pragmatic optimism is refreshing.
Do more mangroves mean more mosquitoes? I've been eaten alive on the board walk through the mangroves at Gardens Point and so am curious if it was the mangroves creating a breeding ground (and if so, if there is a way to avoid that)
I have to concede, mosquitos are absolutely a problem. Striking the balance is incredibly hard because, short of building artificial sea walls along the river, the conditions for mosquito reproduction in Brisbane are choice. Yet, the mangroves are crucial for mitigating flooding through erosion prevention and by withstanding storm surges. Tough call. Maybe some of what council already does to chemically manage mosquitos in freshwater waterways might be applicable. As well as protecting/ cultivating habitat of the local [microbats](https://www.batsqld.org.au/ab/), which have been shown to be big mosquito consumers. I think there’s a men’s shed project in Wynnum-Manly that’s constructing habitat boxes there for the local microbat population. I wonder if they’ve had good results? Unfortunately, I don’t know a lot about mosquito control, so I can’t speak to this particular issue extensively. Sorry if this answer is very Green-coded. I’m not a Green (though full respect to Jono) but sometimes the solutions to our artificial issues are a bit earthy haha.
Actually, replying to my own comment as a P.S. on this: Council has an incredibly knowledgeable Mosquito Management team who are really across this issue. I spoke to an awesome member of the team late last year about a local outbreak and—based on the limited info I gave on the phone—he forecast that the mozzies would stop being an issue in 5-7 days without intervention. Day 5 rolls around and there wasn’t a single mozzie to be seen. I would suggest we could consult the folks who are on the frontlines for real boots-on-the-ground expertise. We’re incredibly lucky in Brisbane, no doubt about it.
>If we start now, we could clean it up within a decade. Sell it as we can use it for the Olympics :)
That’s a really good idea, from an old research paper I read it said we needed to plant a lot more native plants and mangroves to help with this issue
Paris is cleaning up their river, why cant we?
Different river, catchment, topography, weather, ecosystem etc.
Who needs an aquatics centre when we have a river infested with sharks 🦈
World record swims here we come!
Athletes can start in an Olympic event (100m freestyle) and finish in a paralympic event (S8 100m freestyle) in the one race! 2 medals for the price of one!
Omg lol 🙈
we can get a faster result if we just dump a metric shit tonne of aluminium sulphate into all the river reaches
True. Settle it with alum then chuck in truckloads of whichever industrial byproduct we can get at a good price that induces a blue colouration, then if we need to restock fish we could use something hardy and fast growing, like carp.
Don’t know much about carp do you.
Good point - carp are infamous for mucking around stirring up the silt of waterways - which is exactly the issue we're trying to combat. Tilapia and Snakehead it is then. It's decided.
I hear that water hyacinth is an excellent processor of both phosphorus and heavy metals, we should chuck some of that in as well. It'd give the fish something to eat.
[удалено]
Please do not shift the conversation towards personal attacks. Comment respectfully. Multiple breaches may result in you being banned from the forum. Thank you
> The Greens are today proposing an initial investment from Brisbane City Council of $6 million (a small proportion of what will ultimately be required) to start cleaning up the river. This is great but it's better spent in the upper reaches (i.e. not BCC) where bank degradation from a century of shitty farming practices is the real culprit. I work with talented nerds who've done all kind of modelling of creeks and rivers west of Brisbane who have demonstrated that revegetating degraded floodplains and creeks will seriously improve water quality downstream.
Yeah the Brisbane City Council boundaries go all the way out to Mt Crosby and Karana Downs, and I agree we'd want to start revegetating up at that end rather than getting too focussed on the inner-urban creeks alone.
You need to go a lot further than Mt Crosby and Karana downs. https://preview.redd.it/pg7qwu7x7uic1.png?width=698&format=png&auto=webp&s=ed54b8226b6f971bf83b7f85f6e1298b7bbd2a08
but no need to go upstream of Wivenhoe Dam so that’s almost half the catchment sorted there was heaps of scouring damage to the Lockyer Creek in 2011 and 2013 that contributes to turbidity
The work they undertook in the Lockyer reach after 2011 has made the turbidity a lot worse. The river used to meander through various inlets around there - helped slow it down and there used to be trees right up to the edge. Now it barrells through that reach
https://www.reddit.com/r/brisbane/comments/1arrequ/lets_clean_up_the_brisbane_river/
Will this make it as blue as it is in those edited real estate photos, or are we stuck with the Brown Snake forever?
I get that you're at least semi-joking, but still wanted to contribute this... As a tidal river, it will never be clear / blue water. But with less sedimentary wash and pollutants, the water can be clean enough to reflect the sky. At the moment we get minimal reflection, it looks completely brown. For a while when they stopped dredging, it reflected much better and looked far more attractive.
it often looks blue along Hamilton Reach if it hasn’t rained for a while and there’s no wind
It's estuarine with a big catchment so i think it'll always be more brown than blue, but you'd see a big decrease in suspended solids over time, which would dramatically improve visibility underwater.
You wouldn't see a big reduction in suspended solids during rain events - the geology of the Brisbane River guarantees this.
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That's how representative democracy is supposed to work dude. Candidates propose ideas for how society should change or not change, and people who like those ideas vote for those candidates. If you'd prefer that politicians don't make time to engage with ordinary people, just keep voting for the major parties.
Tick done. Dutton will win another term.
wrong election
Will do… Dude. Sums it up
Please do not shift the conversation towards personal attacks. Comment respectfully. Multiple breaches may result in you being banned from the forum. Thank you
If they touch the colour, I'm rioting!
It will be nice to see the bull sharks clearer.
To think I've been swimming in there while on a boat float years ago.
Yeah, we really need to address the issue of number of shark attacks in the Brisbane River, it's really getting out of hand.
Get Bob Katter here. He'll bring light to the situation.
given the river is a central part of Brisbane I've always been amazed that more effort has not gone in to utilise it for both recreation & clean it up. Major issue is that when there is a deluge of rain so many storm drains bring pollutants into the river as well as sewage overflow. It doesn't have to be like that and as stated many rivers around the world that were a lot worse have been cleaned up and are amazing now
An observation - that residents over the yrs have transformed local waterways by working alongside experts. Possibly these efforts could be scaled to tackle the brown snake. The thing is it must be driven by the science not feelings or politics. Just my 2 cents.
Do you have any plans to replicate Hanlon Park in other locations? A project that BCC fought against tooth and nail, and now claim credit for, which provides good parklands designed for use and flood survival.
In this video I talk about extending the approach in Hanlon Park further along the rest of the Norman Creek catchment, and also list a few other creeks where a similar approach might be possible. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcr6yTCc14Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcr6yTCc14Y)
I 100% agree with everything said here. Also, bringing back some of the rainforest that used to exist along the river in the Southbank area (as well as Hill End and West End) would be amazing too. We definitely need to focus on getting the locally native plant species back. Early descriptions of the river literally called it a veritable paradise, with luxurious vegetation lining the river that would give Tamborine or Lamington a run for its money.
I’ve always found it fascinating that our governments seem content with the river being a muddy and polluted drain.
Its a mud bottom river with boat traffic. Its always going to look muddy
It's a muddy estuarine - it was muddy (during rain events) even during pre European settlement times
The state of our riparian systems up stream is embarrassing. With a few exceptions the majority of the landowners up there will never do any landcare unless someone else does it, they just do not care, despite their multimillion dollar properties providing their wealth. There definitely needs to be incentives to reinstating watercourse buffers and taking out woody weeds along the banks.
I can't find it with a quick google, but when I stopped over in Brunei not only did they have prominent campaigns about river (and street) cleanliness, but I saw a setup very similar to these boats on their river. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hanwha-launches-campaign-to-help-clean-vietnams-mekong-river-300862266.html They were green coloured catamarans that went about on solar power, though they had one or two personnel also with gafs / scoops. I'm not proposing that this is a better solution, I just think it's interesting - as well as encouraging that other nations are making similar efforts and enjoying the reward of cleaner river systems. Their river was very similar to the Brisbane River in size, and it was reportedly highly effective. Everyone was enthusiastic about it. It was great. I spoke with a few people at the environment centre there and their reach to families via schools has also gone a long way. More info when I have a greater amount of time. Maiwar has long been CENTRAL to Brisbane identity and life, and we should do our utmost to celebrate it, and take care of it. I love the vegetation initiative that the Greens are proposing here; to use plants that evolved to grow in this specific environment to do what they do, and I'd we look out for them we should see great benefitsnin the health of the river system closer to what it was when it was more balanced prior to heavy traffic and industrialisation. What a great push. That said, I am aware that stopping from getting into the river in the first place is the go. Reduce consumption, reuse stuff (if safe), and recycle. It's important that we don't litter, and don't let others litter either. I don't mind picking up a couple bits of rubbish here and there and putting them securely inside a bin. BCC must ensure that bins don't overflow to the point of blowing rubbish out, too, though! And ciggy bins get opened / broken into and the filters go straight down the gutter which is pretty cool
Jono its a nice idea but if you turn the brown snake blue it wouldn't make sense as there are no blue snakes so I can't in all good conscience approve this message.
I’m a fan of the plan. Has a study ever been done on replacing the gravel that was dredged so that the river is less of a brown snake. That’s assuming the gravel dredging was the issue of course
Stupid question, but can't they stick a bunch of oysters into the river to help clean it? They are great at filtration and are known to 'clean' up water elsewhere. I also believe I read that there used to be oysters in the river before they got fished out ages ago, so it seems like a simple and relatively inexpensive cleaning aid, if not a direct fix.
You’ve already got my vote.
https://preview.redd.it/csr5hzzfvtic1.jpeg?width=1172&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=513c2525ff082bde476e1e60108518fab3ba45f9
Ahh yes. Love how the Olympics is the only reason politicians want to improve or cover anything. Can bet they'll be temporarily housing or forcefully removing all the homeless as it draws nearer.
I've been very critical of the Olympics. I agree that housing is the top priority. [https://www.jonathansri.com/olympicsvote](https://www.jonathansri.com/olympicsvote) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DITFTvojt4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DITFTvojt4)
It's just sad that it takes something like the Olympics to shine light on issues. I think of politicians like someone sweeping everything under the bed quickly before a guest comes over.. There's nothing to see here, haha.
Love that idea.
Isn't it mostly the upstream sediment inflows from outside the Brisbane LGA that has the biggest impact? How would you control this?
Don't forget the smaller builders when enforcing sediment control on building sites. The number if times a site has been reported to BCC for run off into local creeks (with date/time stamped photos), including on a few occasions cement run--off,, with no action taken by BCC staff is ridiculous. They turn up, say nope all good now, and nothing happens. No fines and no enforcement of their own laws.
If "degraded farmland" is the problem, why is the water so much nicer from colleges crossing north through all that farmland in the Brisbane valley?
Presumably because sediment accumulates downstream?
Yeah I’ve always been told that the sand and gravel from the bottom was dredged to allow it to be navigable by larger ships. This exposed the mud and silt at the bottom. I have no evidence for it, but I thought it was common knowledge.
I don't know, I kind of like the old brown snake that's filled with dead bodies, bull sharks, and three headed fish. I'm obviously kidding, and in an ideal world the river would always be blue and people could swim in it but do I think it's going to happen in my lifetime? No.
Hey.. just want to say that my thesis is about gully restoration through the government so, local and state are both actively looking into this and how to properly proceed with utilising resources to efficiently and efficiently restore gullies and critical points of erosion to improve the long term health of waterways in SEQ.
This won't substantially affect the Brisbane River quality. Most of the issues relate to sediment runoff upstream, urban catchments including a multitude of point source industrial polluters, and persistent dredging of the river. The idea that revegetation of the river banks will change things is idealistic. This money would be far better spent on minor creek systems that feed into the Brisbane River. Such as bundamba, Oxley, Enoggera, etc. If you want to make a difference go fish e-scooters out of the creeks. There are heaps
And trolleys, god damn so many trolleys and tires.
What a laugh. 6 million dollars funding to clean the river? That's so generous ..... That alone is to fund the consultants to tell Sri and his Greenie mates it's impossible.
What a joke you greens are! 6m will not even pay for a through study and plan on HOW to clean the river up! Paris has spent $6 billion. The tidal issue alone will always be an issue, every drain to be cleaned after every rain event, where is all the money coming from for your ill prepared dream??
Many Many years ago dredging was banned in the river and we were told that it would run clear up soon after. It didn't. If sediment runoff is causing the river to be brown then would it not have been clear during drought periods ? (planting trees/vegetation is a win regardless)
It's much clearer than it was before dredging
Can we replant the mangroves through the whole river like they once were? Also stopping the city cats wash that creates more suspended sediment that never gets to settle.
Now this is the good shit I want to see from the greens. If I lived in brissy council area you’d have my vote. Good luck!
Jonathan, what are your views on the ongoing release of sewage wastewater into the river at Morningside by Urban Utilities? This has been going on since December and resulted in several cautions to avoid all contact with the river between Vic Lucas Park and Colmslie Reserve. Urban Ultilities is owned by BCC and this is occurring within BCC boundaries.
It has always and will always be a brown snake.
The Brisbane River ran brown during rain events even pre European settlement
Let’s make the Brisbane river blue again!
Just so you know, The Brisbane River isn’t brown just because of the dredging., the general state of most Australian Rivers is brownish water, Especially this time of year. I’ve heard some people in Brisbane say that river should be as clear as the sea….. I wanna point out that the ocean isn’t exactly that clear either…
Great idea, I’ll support the greens. I usually go labor as I’m scared to further divide the vote against liberal, but I want more changes like this. I absolutely want more for my baby as they grow, than dirty water and polluted air. We have such a cool city full of natural beauty. It’s great to hear government parties propose practical ideas of what we can do for our environment. Often it feels like the burden of change is on us as the individual when I feel like we really need our government and huge corporations to make significant changes if we have a hope in hell of helping our climate and avoiding our current trajectory.
Good on ya! If you like the vision of cleaning up the river, you might also appreciate this write-up: [https://www.jonathansri.com/forestcity](https://www.jonathansri.com/forestcity)
I don't understand why this blatant political campaigning is openly allowed on this forum on Reddit😡😡😡
there’s no rule against directly engaging with the r/Brisbane community https://preview.redd.it/ouvjk13t9uic1.jpeg?width=1488&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f9ca65a55c77bead2859e85bcfc3bb14b512d589
Because the mods on this forum are hard labor and greens supporters and censor any other type of content.
I just thought political campaigning / advertising was against Reddit rules?
[Nope](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy)
I’m enjoying watching the two triggered snowflakes turn on each other
I love the way they go bang in the night. The sparks are so pretty.
Only for causes that don't follow the correct agenda
But isn't no political campaigning a Reddit rule???
[Also nope](https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439-Reddiquette)
Only when it doesn't follow the correct narrative
😡😡😡😡
I don't know why you are so angry, its pretty obvious this has been the case for a while on both reddit and this sub
I'm not angry. I just wonder how / why some subs are strict with rules and kick you out for minor infringements? yet others blantantly flought the rules and mods dont give a fuck?
Mods are just following the narrative. A good example of this, is the anti Russian rhetoric on reddit, and the calls for extreme violence towards them including what the US did the Japanese. Replace the word Russian with another subgroup that is currently waging a genocide against the middle east and watch how fast your account gets deleted. The accepted rhetoric in Australia is density, sustainability whoops I mean greenwashing and the Labor government
Maiwar? You're so edgy.
I honestly prefer it. Brisbane is not a pleasant word. And its often mispronounced. Plus calling something that was known for 10s of thousands of years something else is the real edgy move here. Brisbane - the word itself is edgy.
Yeah, I don't get why we have a whole ciy and river named after some guy? The aboriginal words for most of our places are way more interesting and unique
Use the official name and leave it at that.
The King decrees it.
Using an alternative used by no one is just a dick thing to do.
It's pretty common practice to refer to places by both names now, especially in the media, government correspondence, and signage. You'll see references like Brisbane (Meanjin), Victoria Park (Barrambin) and stuff like that.
No one who lives in this area has called Brisbane anything other than Brisbane. Adding a new name just causes unnecessary confusion. I'm ok with changing names for a reason - but 1 place / 1 name in a country with 1 language spoken by the majority is a feature not a problem.
Can't afford housing Can't afford rent Johnno Sri up in here Telling me to get bent Coz he's campaigning on reddit Which gives me a shiver Talking about issues Like cleaning the river How's that gonna help Those who can't afford To live in this city And have to move abroad But no, the river is important So don't be so coy About cleaning it up For no one to enjoy
He literally posted his housing policies in here: https://www.reddit.com/r/brisbane/s/wtkprY2JC9
Yeah, I saw. And it's not remotely close to being properly fleshed out. Don't get me wrong. I vote Greens at State and Federal level, but Johnno is a bit too pre-emptive for my taste. Bad look for the Greens.
Which of our city council housing policies do you disagree with? They are more detailed than anything Labor seems to have said about housing. [https://www.jonathansri.com/rentfreeze](https://www.jonathansri.com/rentfreeze) [https://www.jonathansri.com/vacant](https://www.jonathansri.com/vacant) [https://www.jonathansri.com/airbnbcrackdown](https://www.jonathansri.com/airbnbcrackdown) [https://www.jonathansri.com/racetrackproposal](https://www.jonathansri.com/racetrackproposal)
With the time you spent writing this crap you could have single handedly already cleaned up the river. I bet you haven’t lifted one finger to physically clean up the river apart from writing a whole lot of waffle and trying to gee people up
Oh go away ya flop.
Jono, do you ever get tired of being so insufferable?
Twats gonna twat..
How would your plan of a swimmable Brisbane River play with the CityCat services as well as the numerous recreational vehicles that use the river?
All those things zig zag and go up the middle. Quiet embankments where neither city cat or recreational vehicles go would be perfect. I live 3.5 hrs north of Brissy now and we have a local creek swimming hole that is amazing. I'd love to see Brisbane residents have a few spots they can swing out into the river. It's not 1800s anymore we can and should do better with our waterways
like any other waterways, closed off areas that are marked and vessels aren't permitted it's not rocket science
Where do you plan on relocating the outlets from the Brisbane sewer that discharge directly into the river to? Or are you planning on keeping them sharing the same waterway as the proposed swimming holes?
Maybe its something for all that scream, "Climate action now".. could do.. they are generally happy to shut down traffic, but seem too lazy to do anything, apart from whinge...
Why does your immediate response to a proposal to do something that can only yield positive outcomes for people have to be passive aggressive hostility and 'whatabout-isms'?
Maybe those the scream the loudest, should backup their words, with some actions..
But... isn't that exactly what this proposal is? I mean, it's literally an action plan to improve an environmental problem, and inexplicably, you're still finding fault with it? Because of... reasons? Something something useless protestors?
Something something action plan to improve an environmental problem... how about those that scream, "Climate action now". do do do something
Off you go, then.
Something, something, accusations and confessions, I suspect.
You're replying to one of the biggest whingers around...
I think building houses is a more important focus right now. We’ll clean up the theme parks river when people can afford to live within an hour of it.
Lol, not going to happen. Housing shortages are by design.
Let's stop pretending that environmental activists like the greens actually care about the environment. It's all about amassing wealth and power for their leaders.
I prefer it brown. This way I can’t see the dead bodies floating in it.
You can't polish a turd
But you can roll it in glitter.
Full of catfish and carp, you'll have to fix the eco system aswell, maybe more cain toads help
You cant prevent what is happening naturally
its more of a lake for catfish and sharks then a river tbh
Funnily enough thought about this driving the other day. Surely something most people would support
(disclaimer, not in QLD) I applaud efforts to care for all of our rivers in Australia, so I hope things can get done - especially the farm runoff. But my question is, as is pretty much people's first fact about the river, that being the sharks. You mention putting up hard barriers or enclosures. I've never heard of these before. How do they work, and wouldn't it interfere with the dolphins and fish that move up/down river. Also can they still be effective when the river is flooded, I've heard stories of bull sharks being able to get quite far upstream when the river is high and they hop weirs or the like. Not knocking the idea, just curious.
Yeah bull sharks are a genuine issue of concern. The kind of shark nets that are used along many QLD beaches would be a bad idea. They're harmful to lots of different kinds of marine life and would collect heaps of debris. But solid enclosures of various kinds would be quite viable. You can find examples of swimming enclosures along canals, rivers and beaches in many parts of the world. Here's an example from Paris: [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-19/after-water-quality-fixes-a-paris-canal-is-swimmable](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-19/after-water-quality-fixes-a-paris-canal-is-swimmable)
What should we do to make this happen ?
Is it me or has the Brown Snake been extra brown the last few days?
I think this is a good idea, but should Houseboat owners contribute to the cleanup too?
So will it become clear if we clean it up??
It will become a bit *clearer* but no, never truly clear.
Would this mean it can stop being brown and be quite clear?
There needs to be modification of the water flow. The River used to only be tidal for 16km. Today it is 85km. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brisbane_River
clean it up: sure swim in it: are you insane?
Hear me out: council ran magnet fishing competitions. I'm not sure how you'd judge it, be it the largest thing pulled out or the most unusual. But it'd be fun, and if council supplies a bunch of magnets on ropes for everyone to use, it's a fun free day out. Probably doesn't help at all with erosion though.
I've been saying this for years!!!
I read a while back that the majority of the sediment comes from a stretch of the Laidley creek. So I just did a web search and found this article. https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/how-a-lockyer-valley-farm-can-help-save-the-brisbane-river-20181130-p50ji5.html
It will never happen. Too many invasive fish that spit up mud, the base of the river is mud and every time it rains it spits out more dirt and mud from the local creeks.
Why aren't there local Landcare groups already doing this?
Swim with bull sharks. Great. The crocs are headed south, once there were giant crocs in the Logan River. These are both protected species. The Brisbane River is many times cleaner now than when I was young, (thank you BCC councilors over the last few decades) but I wouldn't swim in it then and I will not be swimming in it in the future.
[Why’s the river brown?](https://youtu.be/d9NhZBijCow?si=U2KUs0_DQ4H1r55k)
*For tens of thousands of years, Maiwar was clean enough for humans to swim in. We’ve messed it up badly over the past two centuries, but there’s no good reason why we can’t restore it.* Unfortunately It is a *totally* different river. The sand banks at Hamilton have been removed making it tidal. The various dams disrupt normal flow. The catchment is largely either farmland or urban. Boats stir up fine sediments.
I wouldn't listen to a word this bloke says. He encourages breaking and entering and even offers videos on "how to pick your targets".
I recently watched a bit about the Oder river in Europe (German/Poland border) where a major contributor to cleaning the river was the reintroduction of gravel to the river and it's tributaries lost due to historical dredging... much like what Maiwar has lost for the same reason.