Maribyrnong River ban remains for swimmers and fishermen after PFAS contamination
It’s been off-limits to swimmers and fishermen since deadly PFAS chemicals from Melbourne Airport seeped into it almost two years ago. But the EPA still can’t say when this major river in the northwest will be fixed.
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Maribyrnong River remains unsafe to humans and pets 12 months after being contaminated by Melbourne Airport.
And the EPA says there’s no timeline on when it will be safe again.
Warnings on people swimming, fishing or taking pets near many sections of the river have remained in place since May, 2018, after Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl, called PFAS, spread from Melbourne Airport land into the river.
A precautionary warning to stop using water for irrigation was lifted last April but to date the spill has not been cleaned up.
Friends of the Maribyrnong Valley president Judy Ingham said the community was fed up waiting.
“Everybody puts it in the too hard basket, we need it sorted and done quickly,” Ms Ingham said.
“If this was the Yarra River it would have been fixed in five minutes but it’s the stupid Western suburbs and we just don’t count.”
Ms Ingham said the untreated contaminant would be having a devastating effect on its surroundings.
“It’s dangerous to humans and animals and once it gets in the ground it can just spread, it can go anywhere,” she said.
PFAS are chemicals which have been used in firefighting foams and other products and have been known to work their way through soil to contaminate surface and groundwater.
According to the Department of Health, PFAS are toxic to fish and some animals, but it is not known whether it causes health problems in humans.
Warnings remain in place for about 18km of the river from Avondale Heights to Bulla.
Ms Ingham is concerned the PFAS could have spread – and could be putting the bay at risk.
“It’s gone completely down stream, so who knows how much has ended up in Port Phillip Bay,” she said.
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EPA chief environmental scientist Dr Andrea Hinwood said they had taken samples of water, sediment and marine life from the river to test for PFAS and found “unacceptable” levels in fish.
She said the EPA recommended anglers didn’t fish in the Maribyrnong River upstream of Solomon’s Ford in Avondale Heights to Deep Creek at Bulla and within all of Arundel Creek.
“The advice also applies to recreational uses of Arundel Creek or using water from the creek for irrigation or stock watering purposes,” Dr Hinwood said.
“Pets should not be allowed to swim in the water.”
Dr Hinwood could not say when the contamination would be cleaned up.
“All new information will be made to the public as soon as possible,” she said.
Melbourne Water north west regional services team leader Jesse Barrett said they would continue to support the EPA.
Melbourne Airport spokesman Grant Smith said tackling the issue of contaminated water leaving the airport was a priority but required substantial input from other parties, including Airservices Australia, Melbourne Water and the EPA.
“Dealing with decades’ worth of legacy PFAS contamination is an incredibly complex challenge and we’ve been very open with our stakeholders about the level of investigation we’ve undertaken and options for future work,” he said.
“We’ve seen some promising results from small scale containment and remediation projects on the airport estate.”