Water Pollution in Queensland, Australia: Causes and Solutions

This presentation provides an overview of water pollution issues in the Queensland region of Australia. It begins by defining water pollution and highlighting the role of plastics, especially microplastics, in marine pollution. The presentation includes a review of articles discussing industrial pollution and the need for stakeholder involvement in improving water quality. A SWOT analysis identifies strengths such as economic development and weaknesses like the use of chemical fertilizers. Opportunities include stricter regulations and farmer training, while threats involve the accumulation of toxins in marine life. A PESTLE analysis examines political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors affecting water pollution. The DPSIR model is used to analyze driving forces like natural phenomena and urbanization, pressures such as nitrate and chemical pollution, the state of water quality, impacts on human health and groundwater reserves, and responses like awareness campaigns and wastewater treatment. The presentation concludes with recommendations for preventing groundwater contamination, reusing treated wastewater, finding substitutes for toxic pollutants, investing in advanced technologies, enhancing sewage systems, and promoting awareness and corporate social responsibility. Key references are also provided.

Water pollution
Queensland region of Australia

Introduction
 The aim of this presentation is to discuss various factors associated with water
pollution.
 To Shakouri and Yazdi (2014), any type of biological, chemical and physical changes in
the water quality which affect the health of the living organisms refers to water
pollution.
 Reisser et al. (2013), have pointed out plastics to be the human-made debris that
leads to marine water pollution. To the authors, microplastics are one of the most
harmful factors that are leading to the waste of marine water and the species living in
the Australian oceans.

Article review
 In the article by Vasudevan and
Oturan(2014), the authors have pointed out
that the electrochemical industry has been
creating pollution in the water level of the
country and helping to clean water.
 According to Rink et al. (2018), to improve
the quality of drinking water and manage the
sewage water treatment process huge effort
from the stakeholders are needed.

SWOT analysis
 Strength
 The country is becoming developed as a huge number of
factories for different types of business are growing and
supporting the economy of Australia.
 Development has been seen in the agricultural sector here
the agricultural lands are used for growing more crops with
the help of fertilizers
 Due to growth of economy, urbanization is also growing
leading to the growth of population in the urban areas.

SWOT analysis
 Weaknesses
 Usage of chemicals as fertilizers in the agro-food
production which are gradually affecting the waters
of the rivers and oceans and even the ground water
also.
 Mixing of industrial wastes in the ground water thus
polluting the drinking water
 Incomplete sewage system in the urban areas is
polluting the ground water

SWOT analysis
 Opportunities
 Proper regulations in the disposal of the industrial wastes can reduce the effect of
water pollution
 Completion of urban sewage system so that the polluted water do not pollute the
ground, river and ocean water
 Training the farmers to use environment friendly fertilizers and pesticides.
 More csopes will be found for supply of fresh drinking water

SWOT analysis
 Threats
 Accumulation of chemicals from pesticides,
heavy metal and other toxic compound in the
body of sea animals and human beings through
water intake
 Contamination with disease through bacteria
and virus from the sewage water.

PESTLE analysis
 Political factors
 The government of Australia especially in the Queensland has been taking various
measures to prevent water pollution both in the marine fresh water.
 Under the Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Act 1981 (Commonwealth) it is
an offence to dump or incinerate a controlled material into Australian waters.

PESTLE analysis
 Economic factors
 The expenses of the machines to control the industrial wastes are high but the
government mandates to use these technologies to prevent polluted water to be
dumped in the water sources of the country.
 Due to water pollution, agricultural lands, fisheries and natural resources mainly the
great barrier reef and the tourist attraction are being affected which is leading
economic uncertainty.

PESTLE analysis
 Social factors
 Fresh water is essential for the survival of life
on this earth hence people need to take
responsibilities to prevent water pollution in a
regular basis.
 Urbanization affecting the fresh water sources
through uncontrolled sewage system in the
households

PESTLE analysis
 Technological factors
 There are numerous treatment technologies which are used in the prevention
of water pollution and reducing increasing contamination of freshwater
systems.
 Emerging pollutants detection is another technological aspect that can save
water from polluting.
 Marine water purification system has been started to be utilized in the
country.

PESTLE analysis
 Environmental factors
 Weather and climate change are the factors that are affecting
the marine water by increasing the water level due to global
warming
 Waste management of the people near the water bodies need to
have attitude towards using green and ecological products so
that the usage of plastics can be reduced

PESTLE analysis
 Legal factors
 In Australia there are sea dumping prevention laws and usage
of chemical fertilizers in the agricultural land.
 The Queensland government has also imposed various
regulations on the factories to reduce chemical wastes

DPSIR Models
 Driving forces
 Natural phenomena include, acid rain, eutrophication and global warming.
 Air pollution mixed with water vapor leads to the acid rain that affect the water bodies.
 Global warming leads to the increase of temperature in water causing bleaching of
coral reefs.
 Excessive urbanization also leads to water pollution

DPSIR Models
 Excessive amount of nutrients in the water results in water pollution that leads to the
death of the animal and plant species.
 Intensive agriculture where huge amount of fertilizers and chemical pesticides are
used to pollute water.
 Industrialization leading to huge number of factories for different types of business are
growing and supporting the economy of Australia but increasing water pollution.

DPSIR Models
 Pressures
 Nitrate pollution is increasing due to the presence of extreme
amounts of nitrates that is washed out from the inorganic
fertilizers.
 Chemical pollution originated from the chemical wastes of the
industries are leading to increase of acid rain.

DPSIR Models
 Pressures
 Water pollution is leading to the uneven rainfall
distribution in the lands which is affecting the
water balance in nature.
 Over pumping leads to the reduction of water
level in ground water which is increasing water
scarcity in the highly populated areas.

DPSIR Models
 State
 High concentration values of NO3, calcium and chlorine in the
fresh water has increased in the fresh water.
 These have led to eutrophication affecting the lives of the
endangered spices.
 Ground water level is showing downturn which is not natural in
the water balance of the earth.

DPSIR Models
 Impacts
 Improper for human consumption
 Groundwater reserves are reduced
 Responses
 Creating awareness of stakeholders
 Water pricing policies
 Artificial recharge
 Waste water treatment
 Usage restriction by the authorities.

Recommendation
 Prevention of ground water contamination
 Greatly reduce non-point runoff
 Reuse of treated waste water for the irrigation in the agricultural lands
 Finding substitute products for the toxic pollutants in the factories
 Investing highly on the technological advancement of the machineries with high
potentiality of preventing water pollution in the marine or fresh water

Recommendation
 Enhancement of controlled and highly planned sewage system in
the urban areas of Queensland.
 Crete awareness among the people of the region to enhance
knowledge about the method of preventing water pollution.
 Motivating the industries to being change in the CSR policies and
recycle water.

References
 Reisser, J., Shaw, J., Wilcox, C., Hardesty, B. D., Proietti, M., Thums, M., & Pattiaratchi, C.
(2013). Marine plastic pollution in waters around australia: Characteristics,
concentrations, and pathways. Plos One, 8(11), e80466.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0080466
 Rink, K., Chen, C., Bilke, L., Liao, Z., Rinke, K., Frassl, M., . . . Kolditz, O. (2018). Virtual
geographic environments for water pollution control. International Journal of Digital
Earth, 11(4), 397-407. doi:10.1080/17538947.2016.1265016
 Shakouri, B., & Yazdi, S. K. (2014). Environment and water pollution. Advances in
Environmental Biology, , 1328.
 Vasudevan, S., & Oturan, M. A. (2014). Electrochemistry: As cause and cure in water
pollution—an overview. Environmental Chemistry Letters, 12(1), 97-108.
doi:10.1007/s10311-013-0434-2