00:02Decades ago, people used to swim in the centre of Adelaide.
00:06Now it's banned in the filthy Torrens Lake.
00:09It's really unfortunate it's come under the time that we'll be having one of the biggest football games played on
00:14Saturday.
00:15Infectious bacteria has forced the lake's closure several times already this year.
00:20Heavy rainfall flooding it with litter.
00:23But it reopened today despite the eyesore.
00:26Coinciding with an ambitious government announcement, new detail on a $4 million plan to rewild the river
00:33and bring back platypus not seen in the lake since the 1800s.
00:37To enable better water quality, to also enable the right vegetation,
00:42to be getting rid of the invasive species that are in our river Torrens,
00:45to enable species like the platypus and others to return.
00:49I don't think that is far enough.
00:51To cast your eye over the river and to see the, I don't know what you'd call it,
00:58almost like flotsam just rubbish floating around.
01:01But it could be so much more beautiful.
01:04The Adelaide City Council postponed its clean up today.
01:07So this is what it's going to look like for thousands of interstate tourists crossing over the bridge to watch
01:13the AFL elimination final.
01:14The council says it could take weeks to clean up, but it may take years before tourists and researchers are
01:21spotting platypus.
01:22I think we'll find out what's going on in the river, what lives in the river,
01:28so we can actually investigate whether it is a suitable habitat for the platypus.
