The pleasant recovery of rain after bushfires is threatening our rivers with disaster

Another ecological threat will occur as heavy rainfall finally extinguishes the fires ravaging south-east Australia. Washing sediments, ash and debris in our rivers, particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin, will decide aquatic life.

We saw this before. Amid 2003 bushfires in the alpine area of Victoria, water filled with sediment and debris (known as mud slugs) flooded into rivers and lakes, significantly reducing f....