From toxic to thriving: volunteers revive one of Australia’s sickest rivers

Thanks to grassroots initiatives, heavily polluted rivers around Australia are getting cleaned up. In the early 1900s, Brisbane River once reeked of sewage when the water level sank too low. Now it’s a waterside metropolis. There are also hopes to make the Yarra River swimmable again for Melburnians.

For over 20 years, volunteers affectionately known as the ‘Mudcrabs’, have been working steadily to remediate the abuse inflicted on the Cooks River, in Sydney’s inner west. Over the course of the 20th century, industrial waste, garbage and even a copper cyanide spill wreaked damage on the habitat. Sugar mills and tanneries used the river as a sewer. 

The group started picking up plastic shopping bags from the banks, which were so numerous they couldn’t start on the mud. There were islands of rubbish including cars which were removed by the volunteers.

Today, the patches of grass are now thriving mangroves and birds have returned to the area.

The Mudcrabs can clean the area in only two hours of work, while another group called the ‘Mudlarks’ surveys the river every month for birds.

Ten percent of Sydney’s population lives in the Cooks River Catchment area, and more growth is expected. The Mudcrabs are now looking for funding from the government to improve aging bank infrastructure.

Read the full ABC News article here and learn more on the Cooks River Mudcrab’s website.