rge-scale drainage points where discharge from operations such as waste water, treatment plants and industry comprise major sources of pollutants in the river. At the present time sewage discharge is mainly treated to a secondary standard with a small proportion only to a primary standard. The sewage discharges not only contribute substantially to the nutrient load and demand for oxygen in the water but also to the toxicant load. This leads to the contamination of fish and other marine oraganisms by such substances. Sewage discharges in the Brisbane area are commonly chlorinated imposing a negative impact on the river. The most apparent discharges are those situated around the highly industrialised portion of the river. Brisbane City has two major waste water treatment plants, including: Luggage Point on the northside and Gibson Island on the southside, both of which situated in this heavily industrialized section. Additionally, two oil refineries- BP at Bulwer Island and Caltex at Lytton discharge streams from potentially contaminated sites into the river. Discharges into the river such as run-off from urban and industrial land and from upstream parts of the catchment can distcharge significant quantities of toxic pollutants (eg pesticides) into the river. Accidents occur relatively infrequently but can have a major impact when they do occur. Spills of insecticides, petroleum and other substances occur periodically in the city, often resulting in serve contamination of the river, leading to extensive fish kills. On the 27th of April, 1998 a 230m tanker "Barringon" that was docked at the AMPOL Refined Products berth at White Island, near Fishermans Islands in Brisbane was hit by a local Tugboat named Austral Salvor. The accident caused 8 tonnes of heavy fuel oil to be spilled into the Brisbane River (fig2). 3.0TEST RESULTSTo recommend possible improvements towards the safe management of the Brisbane River one must aquire a degree of kn...
