by Shane Sody

The City of Adelaide has given the all-clear for the Torrens Lake, and most other water features in your Adelaide Park Lands after a Christmas scare from unsafe levels of bacterial contamination.

On Christmas Day, signs were posted along several kilometres of the River Torrens / Karrawirra Pari, between Mistletoe Park / Tainmuntilla (Park 11) in the east, downstream as far as Bonython Park / Tulya Wardli (Park 27).

Testing by SA Water had revealed unsafe levels of bacteria - including the dangerous e-coli and enterococci - not just in the river and Torrens Lake, but also in the lake in Rymill Park / Murlawirrapurka (Park 14) and the ornamental water features in Veale Gardens (Park 21) and the Himeji Japanese garden in Park 18.

The closure prevented the usual operation of paddle boats, and any rowing activity on the Torrens Lake. However the Popeye tourist craft were still permitted to resume operations on Boxing Day, because there was little risk of passengers coming into contact with the polluted water.

The timing of the closure on Christmas Day proved a headache for the City Council’s communications team who were unsurprisingly off duty.

Publicity about the waterway closures on Boxing Day came mainly from APA’s social media feeds.

It took until Friday 27 November for the City Council to advise, via its Facebook feed:

“Recent water quality testing of water bodies across the city by SA Water identified levels of E. coli and Enterococci which exceeded the secondary contact threshold. As a precaution, avoid contact at these locations until the levels have dropped below the acceptable threshold.

“During elevated times of heat, as experienced over this recent period, water quality can be reduced.

During the Christmas break, the photos above (first posted on our social media feeds) were reposted not just on the Adelaide Now website of The Advertiser but also as far afield as the New York Post.

Further testing of the waterways on Friday 27 December produced samples which, by Monday 30 December had been analysed, and gave better results.

On Monday 30 December, with the results received, most of the waterways were declared safe. However, the “Lake Closed” signs remained at the billabong in Bonython Park / Tulya Wardli where the bacterial levels, as measured on Friday 27 December, were still regarded as too high for safety.

The problems in your Park Lands waterways over Christmas were not related to blue-green algal blooms, which have previously plagued the River Torrens / Karrawirra Pari.

Green Adelaide, together with the City of Adelaide and the City of Charles Sturt have worked together in recent years, successfully minimising outbreaks of blue-green algae on the river.

The fact that pollution in the river is washed downstream to Gulf St Vincent, is creating some pushback from residents in the Henley Beach area.

Over the Christmas holiday week, the Henley Dunes Care Group commented:

"For some time now concerned residents of Henley Beach South and West Beach have complained bitterly about the disgusting blue-green algae and pollution that has been flushed down the Torrens River from the Torrens Lake in the city. This has created a toxic environment in the Torrens Outlet area. This problem needs to be addressed at the source and not simply flushed down the river to the coast."

UPDATE - 2 January 2025

Further testing on New Year’s Eve revealed pollution levels were still too high in the Bonython Park billabong/lake, so that area remains closed for the time being. Further testing was scheduled in the week commencing 6 January.

The author of this article, Shane Sody, is the President of the Adelaide Park Lands Association and the editor of the semi-monthly newsletter, "Open Green Public".

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