Pollution 30th June 1998.

Introduction. How bad is the threat?

The information contained in this section of the safety advice does tend to sound a bit ominous, with talk of toxins, pathogens and bio hazards. It is not intended to scare you away from exploring drains, but it is intended to keep you informed so you can take action to protect your safety.

To put it all in perspective I have walked in some of the most disgusting looking polluted water in Beachside drain a day after heavy rain falls, walked through the UA City River immediately after falling over and grazing my knee twice in City Tunnel, walked through waist high vile smelling crap in Bob�s and the worst I experienced was itchy legs after the Bob�s expo. From what I know of other drain explorers, pollution is something they like to avoid, but apart from visible pollution most people don�t give it much thought. However every drain explorer I�ve met likes to wash off as soon as they arrive home.

While my personal experience with pollution in the City�s drains has not been all that bad, I think it is important for drain explorers to know what they might be facing so they can know how to deal with it. The advice contained on this page is intended for your benefit. I strongly suggest you read all below and then make up your own mind as to how much you take it into consideration when you explore drains.

Source of information contained.

Most of this info I have gathered through various pamphlets, books and from a report a friend of mine who is an engineering student wrote. Sources include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Water Board, the World Health Organisation and the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV). The information contained here is intended to be for educational use, and may contains some inaccuracies although every attempt has been made to provide accurate and up to date information.

There is a list of some major sources at the bottom of this report.

Contents

Types of pollution.

As any drain explorer can tell you, the City's drains and waterways are polluted. Some drains are more polluted than others. But how much pollution is out there? And what sort of pollution is there? Also, what can we do to deal with the pollution problem.

We are well aware of the physical pollution we can see. This includes solid pollution such as litter. Litter is formed mainly of floating litter items such as fast food packaging, plastics, bags, confectionery wrappers, junk mail paper and a small proportion of glass and cans. By far two of the most common items found are polystyrene packaging and cigarette buts.

But some of the worst pollution in drains is the sort you can�t see. This includes biohazards and heavy metal contaminates. Surprisingly, one of the favorite drains explored by drain explorers, Anzac is also one of the worst sources of biohazard pollution. Water samples taken from just downstream of Anzac shows E-Coli levels two and a half times higher than anywhere else in the City and up to 13 times higher than EPA accepted maximums. Water from Gardiner's creek probably contributed to this reading. It should be noted that Dwellers has a sewage overflow just in the entrance.

Breakdown of pollutant types

There are five main groups of pollutants. They are listed from least harmless to most harmless (from a drain explorer's perspective)
Nutrients Litter Suspended solids. Pathogens Toxicants

Nutrients

Nutrients consist of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphates. These pollutants are formed by fauna and flora. Nutrients themselves are not a hazard to humans, however they can cause a change in the oxygen levels which in turn effect blue-green algae growth.

Blue green algae

Blue green algae can release toxins into the water which can cause diarrhea, eye and skin problems, and most worrying, nerve damage. Blue green algae can be found in drains, as for example in Tenth. Apart from its colour and appearance blue green algae also has a distinctive sulfur smell (the infamous rotten egg smell). The problem is that just about everything else in drains has that distinctive rotten egg smell as well.

Nutrients are a minor problem compared to some of the other problems encountered with exploring drains and apart from algae blooms it can be pretty much ignored.

Visible rubbish and Litter Visible litter is what most people consider to be pollution. Litter is things like cigarette butts, polystyrene, plastics, beer rings, candy wrappers, paper, bottles and cans. This is the stuff that they show you on the news. Litter is generally most visible because a lot of it floats and is identifiable. According to EPA figures, the most common items of rubbish measured by weight found in drains is plastic bags, plastic sheeting and film, take away food containers and junk mail. Cigarette buts represent a major and increasing source of visible palliations which is a worrying problem and cigarettes contain major carcinogens such as plutonium, the most deadly substance on Earth. ( Hey, if you don�t believe me, contact the Anti-Cancer council)

Pollution in Port Phillip Bay comes from drains

Apart from glass, most rubbish and litter that you can see won�t cause you much harm, though it will wreak havoc on water life. Naturally glass is a hazard to look out for and if you have poor quality shoes on stepping on broken glass can be a big problem. More likely is the problem of falling over on to glass. Some decomposing rubbish can produce hazardous pathogens.

Suspended solids

This is what makes our UA City River flow up side down. Suspended solids include dirt, dust, mud and other muck that discolors water. Most suspended solids are dirt, and in the UA City River�s case most of this is washed down from soil erosion upstream of the city. Suspended solids in drains come from dirt and dust on streets, ash from burning off, airborne pollutants from cars and industry and general dirt and grime.

While most suspended solids such as dirt are non toxic and not a problem to the drain explorer, suspended solids attract pathogens and toxins which stick to the suspended solids, turning dirty water into toxic dirty water.

Pathogens Pathogens include viruses, bacteria, fungus, and parasites, not nice stuff! They cause disease, illness and not only in people either. These are the sort of things which cause festering on cuts and scratches, diarrhea and serious illnesses such as hepatitis and gastro. Recently, the dumping of medical waste has become a problem too.

A magnified view of pathogens

E-Coli and pathogens

Pathogens themselves are not that easy to directly measure, the standard way of measuring pathogen levels is to measure corresponding levels of E-Coli E-Coli is not a pathogen and itself is not generally harmless. There is however strong relationship between E-Coli levels and the presence of pathogens. E-Coli by the way is mostly found in feces, that�s right, shit. Which probably explains why levels in Anzac are so high as Id mentioned, there is a small sewer that dumps into that drain. Not to mention the streets of Prahran are not the cleanest, all those trendy yuppies and their dogs.

E-Coli in water in one of the prime reasons why beaches are close. According to the EPA figures some beaches have been closed up to 17 days, although of the 28 beaches closed in the report I examined, only 10 were closed for 10 or more days.

Medical waste and sharps.

A relatively new problem is medical waste in drains. This consists of hospital grade waste, sharps such as needles and perhaps most annoying, biohazard containers. These are to be avoided! You don�t want to get mixed up with them. Don�t touch them and warn your fellow drain explorers about them. I have encountered biohazard containers in Flooded, Great Stairway and Clan tomb which is most annoying as the pick up and disposal of these containers is supposed to be free. I have only encountered needles in Beachside drain. Medical waste also comes under Pathogens.

Toxicants These are the really nasty ones, these are pure poison. This includes industrial waste, pesticides, herbicides, oil, heavy metals and chemicals. What is particularly nasty about toxicants is that they can accumulate. Toxicants can be a big problem as they are often not visible. I don�t know the number of drains I�ve walked in and thought the water looked clean enough to drink. The rule tends to be, the more you can see it, the less harm it can do.

Paint and chemicals pour out of a drain

Apart from being almost always fatal to marine life toxicants are not exactly beneficial to humans either. Toxicants present in water are the most hazardous to drain explorers. Toxicants range from industrial waste illegally dumped into drains (particularly in industrial areas) to ordinary house hold toxicants such as detergents and cooking oil.

Heavy Metals

Heavy Metals in drains include zinc, mercury, lead, copper, arsenic, cadmium, iron and more. Metal toxins are almost always invisible and have no smell. By far the highest metal found in drains is zinc. According to the EPA about 12 tonnes of zinc pours out of the UA City River into Port Phillip Bay every year, and another three tonnes from Werribee. Levels of lead are about a quarter to a fifth of the levels of zinc. Most of the lead and zinc which is found in drains originates from pollutants generated by cars, not only from exhausts but also from wear and tear on vehicles and roads.

Heavy metals in particular, such as lead and mercury don�t go away once absorbed by the body, they will accumulate over time. Continued exposure to lead, zinc, mercury and other heavy metals will lead to premature hair loss, nerve damage, loss of mental capacity (insanity), sterility and eventually, death. This really is bad news for drain explorers. Heavy metals are a major carcinogen as well as being poisonous. Heavy metals can be dissolved in apparently clear water, but are found in high concentrations in sedimentary deposits such as mud.

Oil, petrol and diesel.

This stuff you will know about, either because it will either stink like mad or cause you to slip and slide all over the place. While not good for you oil, petrol and diesel is likely to do more harm to your clothing than to you, unless you injure yourself slipping over unless fumes from these pollutants reach harmful levels. For more information on gas and fumes in drains see the relevant section.

Chemicals

Industrial chemicals can be pretty concentrated, and may include things such as paint stripper, acids, base substances, caustic soda, corrosives, heavy metals and other highly toxic substances. Drains such as Cougars, the unexplored Showgrounds drain and many down near Altona are subject to fairly regular (and illegal) dumping of industrial waste.

Another range of toxicants include detergents, cleaning agents, disinfectants, bleach, washing products such as shampoos, tooth paste, soap and mouthwash. As most of these appear to be things that clean, you expect that they would do good, but when mixed and combined with other pollutants these products can become either toxic or acidic and therefore harmful.

When and where are pollutants found.

The big question is when. Fortunately this is when drainers should not be exploring drains anyway. Peak water flows are when drains become most polluted. This is because high volumes of water are able to move some contaminates that are deposited and build up in the drain during slack flow times. Water quality in drains is at its lowest just prior to, during and for an average of 2 days after peak water flows. Peak water flows, for our purposes simply means any time it rains.

Most pollutants are found in the actual drains themselves, in the UA City River and tributaries with higher concentrations of pollutants the further you go down stream and near bay outfalls. Storm water drains can actually be more polluted than urban waterways such as creeks and the UA City River. The worst recorded pollution areas (and by far few drains are monitored for pollution) are those that exit into the UA City River from Maze and down stream and drains that exit into Gardiner�s and Elster creeks.

Of drains that have had measurements of pollution taken the following are most polluted: Anzac, GOD, Autobahn, Dungeon, Back-Creek drains and Dwellers. These drains tend to have high levels of non visible palliations such as Pathogens and Heavy Metals. This is not surprising as they all drain large areas near dense urban areas and busy roads. Most drains are not measured for pollution and the figures for those that were vary in date and organisation taking measurements. From my own experience I can estimate that several unmeasured drains would be more polluted.

What we really have to look out for.

Short term.

Short term we should be aware of visible pollutants, which of course we should avoid. Be aware that exposure of cuts and abrasions to even apparently clean water can expose you to harmful pathogens. Also be aware of blue green algae and avoid exposure to it.

Long term.

Long term harm is going to be caused by heavy metals. Unlike most other pollutants, heavy metals build up in your system. Levels needed to start to effect you are surprisingly low, baldness will result from only a few milligrams of mercury or lead. Long term drain explorers should take this into consideration when going for doctor�s check ups. I am unaware if this can be checked for, but it is worth asking.

Heavy metal poisoning is the big long term pollution and health problem facing drainers. At this point, with little information to go on I can�t say how much of a potential problem it could be or is. All I can say is that it is cumulative, it is not a visible form of pollution and it is real.

Safety measures we can take

Avoid exploring drains during and after rainfall.
Pollution is at its heaviest at these times. Generally these are times when it is not safe to explore drains anyway.

Avoid stepping in water.
Easier said than done, but minimising contact with water minimises contact with pollutants as most are water borne.

Wear shoes and socks and wash them after use.

Wearing shoes and socks in a drain provides some buffer between you and pollutants, albeit a minor one. Socks can filter out some suspended solids but are no good against water borne pathogens and heavy metals. They do tend to keep out some mud, where deposits of heavy metals are found. Washing shoes and socks immediately after use allows you to remove contaminates and particles before they have a chance to dry and become deposited on your shoes and socks. While not ideal economically, it is recommended you change your socks once you cannot tell which colour they originally were as this indicates an excessive build up of suspended solids which may host pathogens and toxins. Shoes and socks should be manually scrubbed and dirt particles removed before being machine washed if desired. It is highly recommended you invest in some non-toxic antiseptic or disinfectant wash to dip shoes and socks in before finally drying. Do not wear wet socks exploring as failure to dry out will allow pathogens to breed.

Wash off after exploring.

Most drain explorers do this anyway. As well as having a shower (not a bath!) after drain exploring, consider taking along disinfectant hand towels or soap and water to wash hands between exploring drains, especially if you plan to eat. If you are a long term drain explorer worried about heavy metals pollution washing your feet between drains may be worth considering.

Inoculations

Though painful, inoculations for tetanus and Hepatitis-B are recommended if you intend becoming a long term drain explorer. Some councils have free programs and certainly there are discounts for people with health care cards. Unemployed people should get these cards as standard. Students can apply for a free health care card from Center-Link.

Further information:

The EPA has some very good information on pollution, particularly heavy metal pollution.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics brings out a booklet every year about water pollution which it publishes in booklet form (ABS catalogue # 4140 �Australia�s Environment - issues and facts�)

The Anticancer Council has some great info on air pollution and heavy metal pollution.

Geoff Strong, science reporter of The Age newspaper in UAcity wrote a good article titled; 'REVEALED: How humans have become the greatest pollution threat to the UA City River' dated Sunday 26th October 1997. As of July 1998 you can search The Age site for the article.

The Australian Water & Wastewater Association has some info on water pollution but they are a bit commercialised.

Global Hydrology and Climate Center

MIT CEED HYDROLOGY

Hydrology and Water Resources Department