MrBlean said..
Whilst no form of pollution is good news, this is a typical tabloid click-bait story. First, the beach isn't closed as per the headline. Whilst I haven't seen them myself (as I haven't looked), it appears there are signs saying you should not swim in the water. So the water is 'closed', not the beach. Ingesting the chemicals is the issue, not being in contact with them. So going on the beach is not dangerous. Swallowing lots of sea water is probably not a good idea, for this and a host of other reasons. There are plenty of pathogens in the form of various enterococci in the sea that would make you very sick or could kill you within days if were you unfortunate enough to get infected. Plus the heavy metal pollution in Sydney harbour makes it one of THE most polluted estuaries in the world. Given it's tidal, a percentage of this will get washed into the open sea. Second, the chemicals concerned have been 'linked' to cancer, there is not yet proof they are cancer inducing. The source is almost certainly fire-fighting foam used at Sydney airport that has leeched into the local water sources.
Beach was closed last weekend for cleanup operation. Bobcat moving sand around and truck vacuum cleaner doing 'something'
And yes, I was also wondering if it was the firefighting chemicals.
