Pesticides still pouring into reef waters

EIGHT of the 10 main rivers flowing into Great Barrier Reef waters have breached Queensland's water quality guidelines, polluting the country's most valuable tourist attraction with increased amounts of toxic chemicals.

The herbicides atrazine and diuron were present at river mouths, inshore reefs and intertidal seagrass monitoring locations, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority report said.

Monitoring over the past 12 months confirmed pesticides were "an ubiquitous contaminant" in the inshore areas of the reef, the Annual Marine Monitoring Report 2006 said.

The report was released on Friday after the Herald reported concerns in environmental circles that it had been withheld for several months.

Environmental groups say that despite knowing about the problem for decades, the Queensland and federal governments have not done enough to protect the reef from pastoral and sugar cane plantation activities that are pouring mud and chemicals into rivers.
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