Flood Water mixing with Ocean Water

Flood waters mixing with ocean water on the Great Barrier Reef off Rockhampton and stretching north to the Whitsunday Passage.
The greatest La Nina event in recorded history delivered record amounts of rain to North Eastern Queensland. Causing near unprecedented flooding across much of the state and immersed many of the Bowen and Fitzroy Basin's open cut coal mines in water. Millions of litres of flood water from tailings dams were discharged into the nearby river systems, that in turn sent thousands of tonnes of sediment and toxic sludge into the Great Barrier Reef creating toxic blooms that stretched hundreds of kilometres across pristine UNESCO World Heritage listed waters. Visible in NASA satellite imagery, these discharges leave much of the effected area vulnerable to coral bleaching and threaten not only the reef's health but place in jeopardy a multi million dollar tourism industry vital the state’s and Nation’s economy.

If the Great Barrier Reef sees a major coral bleaching event over the next year the whole ecosystem could spiral into decay leaving this tropical paradise, the world’s biggest reef and delicate ecological treasure as an underwater graveyard.