Seeing red at orange creek

By Ed Merrison
AN UPWEY resident has accused authorities of sending the wrong message to potential polluters by failing to adequately investigate a report of suspected creek contamination.
Claire Ferres Miles telephoned both the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and Melbourne Water on Monday, 21 August when she discovered the stretch of water in Ferny Creek behind her house had turned a dense, thick orange colour that seemed to her highly suspicious.
“From a lay person’s point of view it certainly did not look natural. It wasn’t spotted or streaked, it was like a block of bright orange muck,” she said.
Despite the EPA’s assurance it would send someone to investigate, when Ms Ferres Miles called a week later she was told it had no record of her inquiry.
When the Mail contacted the EPA last Thursday, it was told to follow up the inquiry with Melbourne Water, which said a member of its civil assets team had visited the creek.
Melbourne Water spokesman Ben Pratt said the investigation identified no significant discoloration.
Mr Pratt said there may have been an increase in flow and slight turbidity in the water, perhaps consistent with someone having released dam water into the creek.
Ms Ferres Miles, who has lived on the property for 10 years and said she had never seen anything like the colour, was not satisfied with the explanation.
She was also concerned that Melbourne Water did not appear to have ensured any chemical testing was conducted on the water.
In addition, Mr Pratt’s comment that the EPA was the appropriate body to investigate any suspected pollution incidents led Ms Ferrer Miles to accuse the two organisations of passing the buck.
“Basically, no one is taking responsibility, and I don’t know what else I could have done,” she said.
“If the EPA is serious about polluters they should take reports of this nature seriously and investigate them fully.”
Ms Ferres Miles said the conduct of Melbourne Water and the EPA sent out the wrong message to would-be polluters.
“It looks like you could dump anything in (the waterways) and no one would care.
“It’s disappointing something like this can happen and no one seems to want to do anything about it.”