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| Lake Bonney
(KCA November 2003) |
Where is Lake Bonney?
Lake Bonney is a large coastal lake about 10 km south of Millicent
in the South East of South Australia, like most of the South East
region, it has been extensively altered since European settlement,
particularly by the effects of drainage schemes and various land
use impacts.
Lake Bonney is highly coloured and very turbid restricting the
amount of light penetrating through the water. Currently there
is low diversity of most types of organisms including algae, macroinvertebrates,
fish and aquatic plants in the Lake. However, the reason for the
poor condition of the lake is still unclear.
The Lake is currently restricted to boating due to the hazard
of floating logs throughout the Lake, which broke free while being
stored in the Lake after the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires.
What are the issues
Large volumes of wastewater from pulp and paper mills have been
discharging into the Lake for over 60 years. This has caused the
lake to become highly coloured, also adversely affected the condition
of the lake. The lake also receives discharges from three drains,
one of which includes effluent from the Millicent wastewater treatment
plant and drainage water from agricultural regions.
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Early colonists'
view of a "brackish" Lake
Bonney SE in May 1844 (Copy of original
sketch by George Angus held at the
National Library of Australia, Canberra) |
What is happening to improve water quality
in Lake Bonney?
The Environment Protection Authority, Office of Economic Development
and Kimberly-Clark Australia are funding a project over 2003-05
to assess the current state of Lake Bonney SE and identify actions
that can be taken to improve the health of the lake.
Reports
Lake Bonney, South East, South
Australia - Past, Present and Possible Future (558KB
PDF).
This page was last modified 05-09-2006
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