Why is the yarra brown

The Lower Yarra's course was significantly altered from onwards, in order to alleviate the regular devastating floods. The original wide loop in the river, west of today's Docklands, was eliminated in through the construction of the Coode Canal. The visionary feat of engineering, under the direction of British engineering expert Sir John Coode, involved 2, workers for 20 years.

It not only significantly shortened travel time up the river for ships, but also created Victoria Harbour and Victoria Dock.

The City Council made improvements to the Yarra's northern bank upstream of Princes Bridge from the s. The Yarra Improvement Act enabled the Board of Works to carry out major realignment works between the city and Richmond, including removal of the billabongs north of Princes Bridge, near the Botanic Gardens. In the s a new river channel was cut at Burnley, which created Herring Island in the process.

During the s the construction of the Eastern Freeway further altered the course of the river. Melbourne's quietly flowing Yarra River was not always so. Severe flooding was a regular feature of the narrow, twisting original watercourse.

The first flood was recorded in The biggest recorded flood — in saw the water rise 14 metres higher than normal. It destroyed houses in Collingwood and Richmond. A bar of rock, located opposite today's Crown Casino, banked-up water, which regularly flooded South Melbourne and kept much of the land south of the Yarra as permanent swamp. A lengthy program of works was carried out from the late s to help alleviate the flooding.

The rock bar was blasted and the river was widened and straightened, including construction of the 1. The removal of a major bend and lagoons upstream of Princes Bridge helped the river to flow more directly to the sea. The new retaining walls and boulevards of trees planted between the bridge and the Botanic Gardens created the classic vistas of the city skyline that we still enjoy.

Between and , the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works removed 24, items of natural debris from the river to improve flood control and navigation. In a severe loop in the river at Burnley was eliminated by cutting a canal to make a straight, wide section. Herring Island was created in the process. The Yarra's last great flood was in Melbourne's high points of colour and activity from until after World War 2 were the annual Henley-on-Yarra regattas.

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Heavy rain also tends to wash all kinds of nasty stuff from roads and other flat surfaces into the river, so if it's been raining you'd be better off seeking out your local pool where your chances of ingesting something nasty would be, hopefully, lower. The other factor to consider is, even if the water is fine, it can be dangerous — even lethal — to swim in the Yarra, especially if you're male, aged between 25 and 34, and drunk. Research by the Royal Lifesaving Society found the Yarra was among the deadliest rivers per kilometre in the country.

In the 15 years to , 37 people drowned in the Yarra River, compared to 70 people in the Murray, which is 10 times as long. Men are over-represented in these statistics, with 87 per cent of all river drownings in Victoria being men, and the leading age group.

A number of these deaths were due to falls or boating and fishing accidents, but the research found about 20 per cent were swimming accidents and 15 per cent were through diving. Alcohol was judged to be a contributing factor in 73 per cent of river drownings in Victoria, whether the person was swimming, fishing or boating.

Few people would know the lower reaches of the river as well as Yarra riverkeeper Andrew Kelly. He represents the Yarra Riverkeeper Association, which advocates independently on behalf of the waterway — effectively, a voice for the river.

He's also optimistic about the potential impact of the Yarra River Protection Act, which was passed late last year. The legislation recognises the river as a living entity and seeks to give the traditional owners — the Wurundjeri people — a greater say in its upkeep. Development in Melbourne's outer north-east means what was once farmland, which absorbed 90 per cent of the rainfall, is now dominated by roads, roofs and other hard surfaces that channel water into the river.

Healesville and Launching Place, where the water in the river is sometimes found to be worse than it is at Kew, are a concern. Most of them were oBikes — the dockless share-bikes identifiable by their bright yellow chainguards and wheelrims.

To summarise, and to actually answer Sara's question: yes, it is safe to swim in the Yarra River, as long as you swim somewhere north of Abbotsford, on a day when it hasn't been raining, and when you've checked the water quality rating, and you're not drunk — or riding an oBike! Sara wanted Curious Melbourne to investigate whether it was safe to swim in the Yarra River.

The question occurred to her as she was riding her bike to work one morning in Richmond. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.

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