On most days, Gold Coast waterways are a glistening blue-green, but scratching below the surface of the golden sands reveals something more sinister.
Dredging contractors like Warren McKay — who are employed to ensure waterways are deep enough to be navigable — say they are uncovering a concerning range of rubbish.
Works have uncovered waste including cars, bicycles, lawnmowers, fridges, shopping trolleys, mechanical parts, marine batteries, building materials, and outboard motors on the bottom of the Gold Coast Broadwater.
Mr McKay says his barge's hopper carries up to 950 tonnes of sand at a time that is then transported and released into the ocean off nearby surf beaches, helping to combat erosion and revitalise the exposed coastline.
He and his crew are working at Paradise Point next to the gated community of Sovereign Island, one of South-East Queensland's most exclusive enclaves — but below the surface it's not so pretty.
Mr McKay said his team regularly had to stop work when rubbish became lodged in their pumps, a concern because they only dredged relatively narrow channels.
"Our dredge head is about 1 metre wide and we are picking something up every second pass," he said.
"It makes you think: What else is down there? We are only doing a 40-metre-wide channel."
Pollution piling up
Contractors usually allow for 1 cubic metre of waste for every 10,000 tonnes of sand but have recently experienced a 40 per cent increase in the amount of rubbish being found.
Mr McKay said it was not only time-consuming to unblock the pumps but disheartening to realise how much pollution must be on the floor of our rivers, creeks, and canals.
"You're not going to see this rubbish until we start picking it up. It is down in the mud," he said.
"It's ridiculous. It makes you wonder what people are even thinking when they do it.
"They think it's out of sight, out of mind. It's not on — and someone has got to do something about it."
While there may be an innocent explanation for the mountains of crab pots, nets and fishing gear, the Gold Coast Waterways Authority believes much of it has been illegally dumped or thrown overboard.
In the past two years, the authority has recovered 20 discarded pontoons — some up to 8 metres long — between the Nerang and Coomera rivers.
Owners have been known to let them drift away because of the high cost associated with disposing of the styrofoam they are made of.
Marine and automotive batteries are also frequently thrown into waterways instead of being recycled, resulting in toxic chemicals leaching into the ecosystem.
Gold Coast Waterways Authority chief executive Chris Derksema said crystal-clear waterways were an important part of the city.
"It is really disappointing to see what people will throw away," he said.
"A small bit by many people over a long time creates a really big pile of rubbish.
"I can't imagine what there must be in other parts of the network, particularly under public jetties and pontoons.
"There is a small percentage of people who are particularly lazy or who don't want to spend the couple of bucks to dispose of the toxic things properly."
Destructive and dangerous
Fines of up to $57,500 for individuals and $287,500 for businesses apply for anyone caught dumping illegally, according to the Department of Environment and Science.
A common misconception is that green waste is safe to dispose of in waterways.
The skipper of Mr McKay's dredging barge, Jack Connell, said larger items such as branches or tree stumps would not break down as fast as people thought and therefore posed a major safety risk for boaties.
"It will tear a speed boat at 80km/h into absolute pieces," he said.
"There was an incident near South Stradbroke a few years ago where someone hit a palm tree that was floating and it ripped a metre hole in the boat and the people involved went to hospital.
"Kids jumping off these bridges [nearby], they don't understand what's underneath them."
