Surely enough is enough! Anyone who recently has walked along our beaches after Cyclone Alfred would have seen the catastrophic and widespread amount of smelly toxic foam accompanying all the other usual organic and inorganic flotsam and jetsam, chocolate ocean and sand erosion. These problems have been exacerbated by recent southerly winds and swell drawing the toxic brown mushroom belching out of the Richmond River further south along the Ballina and Lennox Head coastline.
When will we demand that our sick river systems be rehabilitated? Too many decades of uncontrolled, agricultural extraction upstream have almost totally killed off the Richmond River. Just ask our oyster farmers who have all but gone out of business.
The University of New England Ecohealth report in 2014 graded the Richmond River catchment system’s overall health as D – or poor. One of the lowest reported in eastern Australia.
There have been many broken promises in the past to rehabilitate the river. When will we see action?
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
