A Queensland council is under investigation by the state government after at least 350 million litres of raw sewage spilt into a Gold Coast river.
Approximately 140 Olympic-sized swimming pools’ worth of effluent matter spilt into the Albert River at Yatala before the Gold Coast City Council detected and repaired the leak earlier this month.
The council confirmed that the cause of the spill was a broken pipe that might have been leaking since January.
Brad Wirth, the executive director at the Department of Environment, remarked that he had never seen a spill of this magnitude in Queensland.
Michael Kahler, the executive general manager of infrastructure for Gold Coast City Council, announced that an independent investigation by a “specialised engineering firm” will examine the cause of the pipe break, why it remained undetected, and how effective the council’s response was.
Sally Spain, president of the Wildlife Queensland Gold Coast and Hinterland branch, described the spill as one of the most significant “environmental disasters this city has ever faced.
News source: Abc.net.au
Feature image: By Shiftchange – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32031583
