A green-belly pond has been identified as a potential threat to water quality in the state’s South Australia region, after an outbreak of the bacteria Cryptosporidium, which has also been linked to other serious health problems in the country.
Key points:The reservoir in Skogafos Swamp is believed to have been contaminated with Cryptospora, a strain of Cryptosorb virus that has also killed a human in the US and killed a child in EuropeSource: ABC NewsA spokesman for the South Australian Department of Primary Industries (DPI) said the pond was located at the foot of the Swallow Lake in Skogs Swamp, about 25 kilometres south of the state capital Adelaide.
“It is believed the reservoir was contaminated by Cryptosorbia bacteria,” the spokesman said.
“The source of the contamination is currently unknown and we do not know what is responsible.”
In a worst case scenario, the reservoir could contain water that is contaminated with cryptosporidiosis.
“He said the department was not releasing the exact water level of the pond at this stage.”
While the pond is being monitored by our health and environmental experts, we will not be releasing any further water levels,” the DPI spokesman said in a statement.”
We will not know the exact level of water until we are in contact with the source of contamination.
“A local resident told ABC News the pond had a “very bright green” colour, but it was not clear what the cause was.”
I think it’s just a bit of green and red floating around and that’s it, it’s all over the place,” said the man, who declined to be named.
He said he had not been drinking the water from the pond for a long time, but the man was aware of other water sources nearby.”
There are a lot of people who live nearby, and we used to live next door to the same water source, so it’s not uncommon for people to use it, but not this time,” he said.
The pond was not the only one in South Australian to be affected by Cryptobacterium, with a reservoir at a farm in Kwinana, another 25 kilometres away, also being affected.ABC Health (@ABCHealth) September 10, 2019A spokesperson for the State Government’s Environment and Heritage Protection (EPPP) said it had received a report about the Cryptobacteria reservoir at Kwinanas farm.”
This is an area that has been a known reservoir of Cryptobacterial contamination, and our team are investigating the source,” the spokesperson said.
He added that the farm was still closed for now, but would be open for farmers returning to the farm this week.”
If there are any more confirmed cases, we’ll have to release the dam,” the EPPP spokesperson said in an email.
Topics:bacteria,infectious-diseases-other,infections-and-disorders,infection-control,honeymoon-1,south-australia,adelaide-5000More stories from South Australia