Metal pollution of Tasmania’s lakes ‘among world’s worst’

Six lakes in Tasmania’s iconic south-west wilderness area have metal contamination levels that are among the highest in the world, a study by the Australian National University in Canberra has found.

The study tracked airborne pollution in the region for the first time and found that contaminants had travelled 130 kilometres downwind from historic mining sites at Queenstown and Rosebery.

The paper’s lead author is Larissa Schneider, an environmental chemist at the ANU college of Asia and the Pacific. The results are published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.