
Heron Island is a 20-hectare coral cay, 65km east of Gladstone, at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. Half of the island is a national park, one quarter is the University of Queensland Research Station and one quarter is the Resort. The island can be occupied by up to 400 people at any one time, with up to 200 resort guests, 100 staff and 100 scientists and students at the HIRS. The resort is advertised as an ecotourist destination, with opportunities to swim with sting-rays, reef sharks, sea turtles and other marine life. It is certainly nature-based, with ample bird life, coral reefs teeming with fish and invertebrates and walks through rare Pisonia forest. The island also has extensive opportunities for environmental education with ‘The Heron Gazette’ in every room, daily news leaflets – the ‘Heron Times’- with information about local species and island activities, as well as the well-designed and equipped Information Centre, staffed by friendly and helpful resort employees. The resort holds regular information nights, about the biology of sea turtles or star-watching, as well as daily reef or forest walks or excursions to the Research Station. It also has a popular Junior Ranger program for 7 to 12 year olds. However, is the resort an ecologically sustainable development? I went behind the scenes, to areas that many tourists don’t even think about – the desalination plant, sewerage treatement plant and recycling and waste collection areas to find out.

All the fresh water used on the island is produced from this desalination plant, which pumps water from the sea, filters out particles, including living organisms, and then forces the water through fine membranes. The filters consist of layers of gravel, coarse and fine sand, which remove algae and floating debris. The salty brine is returned to the sea, and the fresh water is pumped up to high storage tanks. The whole process is energy intensive, powered by four huge diesel generators.

Sewerage treatment isn’t something a lot of people like to think about – but imagine what life would be like without it! All the wastewater from the toilets (so-called ‘black’ water) is pumped to concrete sinks, where it is mixed and aerated and then passed into settling ponds. Bacteria consume some of the nutrients, but the remaining sludge is emptied into concrete evaporating ponds, lined with sand. As the water evaporates, the sludge dries and cracks and is eventually shovelled into skips and removed from the island.

This waste, together with food scraps from the kitchen (frozen to prevent putrification) and recyclables (cardboard, glass, aluminium and plastics) must all be shipped off the island and disposed of appropriately. Any waste escaping would provide excessive nutrients to the delicate coral reef ecosystem, causing increased algal growth and disrupting the existing food webs. Transport of people (staff and patrons), products (food, drinks and other consumables, furniture and equipment etc) and waste materials to and from the island requires enormous quantities of fossil fuels.

At present, the island’s energy needs are provided by fossil fuels (diesel and gas), with solar panels for hot water requirements. What further renewable energy sources could be used to make this development more environmentally sustainable? Geothermal or hydropower are not available and solar PV panels would only be able to supply a small proportion of the island’s energy requirements.
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