By XAVIER SMERDON
WERRIBEE South Beach is the most polluted in Melbourne, according to a new report released by the Environmental Protection Authority.
The popular swimming and fishing beach recorded the highest levels of the enterocci bacteria, found inside the intestinal tracts of warm-blooded animals, last summer.
The Beach Report 2010-11 found that Werribee South had 1020 enterocci organisms per 100 millilitres of water, much greater than the second most polluted beach, Port Melbourne, which recorded a level of 738 organisms per 100ml.
The report said that increased levels of the bacteria could mean something sinister is happening at the beach.
“Elevated levels of enterococci are a sign of possible faecal pollution,” the report said.
“Long-term beach water quality at the 36 monitored beaches has been generally good, meeting water quality objectives for most years. There was an increase in the number of beaches not meeting the objective this Beach Report season, but this was a direct result of the wetter than usual summer and increased stormwater run-off.”
The high levels of pollution at the Wyndham beach could mean that is closed for days at a time this summer.
“EPA advises beach users against swimming by issuing a ‘swim advisory’ if any site has two consecutive daily results over the investigation trigger value, or any site has a single sample over the impact indicator trigger that is not linked to rain,” the report said.
The EPA said some of the most common causes of high levels of the bacteria were stormwater runoff and river discharge after rain, bather shedding (where no toilet facilities are available), leaks from toilet facilities and septic tanks and sewage overflows.
