Fixing Richmond River is easy, so why aren't we doing it?

I HAVE lived in and around Ballina for about 20 years, paying rates to Ballina Shire Council for most of them.

Having trained as an environmental scientist in Lismore in the '90s, I have been well aware of the Richmond River's poor health of some time.

Initially I welcomed reading the article "Fish kills could happen again" in Saturday's paper - it's high time the wider community understood this.

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However, I quickly felt frustrated and angry with the absolute lack of any significant work done to improve the health of the river.

I found it interesting that in the same article, Ballina council is aware that fish kills will come again ("…costing the Ballina economy dearly"), but all the Ballina mayor could offer was the "...[the report would] potentially allow the council to attract grant funding".

I mean, it's not rocket science. Riparian revegetation and weed control for enhanced riverine health has been around for decades ... its simple, it works.

What is most frustrating is that councils, particularly Ballina, prioritise expensive capital engineering projects over long overdue, much needed environmental projects.

It might help if we call the rehabilitation of the Richmond River an engineering project - "Engineering a resilient Richmond River" - it might attract some level of priority in council's own budget.

I mean, who puts forth a plan to pump $8 million dollars into two local pools, asks the community to pay for, all while watching their biggest and best pool slowly die ... and waiting for the next big fish kill.

* Dr Mark Bayley is the director and senior scientist for Australian Wetlands Consulting