Maribyrnong and Yarra Rivers environmental audit

An environmental audit of the historical contamination in the industrial precinct of Whitehall Street, Yarraville and its impact on the Maribyrnong River has been completed by Dr Peter Nadebaum.

EPA Chairman, Mr Mick Bourke said the environmental audit found levels of contamination for a range of metals in sediment samples, which were consistent with those expected in a highly urbanised catchment.

"The concentration of contaminants, including arsenic in the river are lower than the guidance levels for protection of ecosystems and don’t pose a concern for use of the river, however EPA will continue to require assessment and clean up of the industrial sites as appropriate," Mr Bourke said.

He said EPA has required companies to clean up contamination at key sites, with work already underway on some sites.

Mr Bourke thanked the members of the Audit Reference Group, including Chair Professor John Cary, Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay councils, the community, Parks Victoria and industry participants for their support throughout the audit, and hoped they would join in follow up work to implement the audit findings.

The audit had a number of key recommendations, which will be addressed by EPA and the companies concerned, as part of their individual notices and ongoing clean up works.

• Download the entire audit report (Adobe PDF file, 12238KB or 12.2MB)
  
  
• Download the executive summary (Adobe PDF file, 93KB)
• Download Chapters 1 – 6 information about industrial sites and activities (Adobe PDF file, 8372KB or 8.4MB)
• Download Chapters 7 – 14 information about river systems and risk assessment (Adobe PDF file, 1222KB or 1.2MB)
• Download Chapters 15 – 18 audit discussions, recommendations and conclusions. (Adobe PDF file, 236KB)
• Download Audit appendices. (Adobe PDF file, 3920KB or 3.9MB)

More about assessment and clean up of the Whitehall Street industrial precinct.

Download EPA Publication 1116 - Results for contamination investigations for the Yarra and Maribyrnong estuaries (Adobe PDF file, 277KB)

Environmental Audit Reference Group

To support the environmental audit of the lower Maribyrnong and Yarra Rivers, EPA established the Lower Maribyrnong Audit Reference Group (LMARG). The group includes representatives of:

• Community
• River users
• Industrial landusers with potential contaminated land and groundwater issues;
• Parks Victoria
• Local government (Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay).

Professor John Cary is the independent Chair of LMARG. Professor Cary is Director of Victoria University's Institute for Sustainability and Innovation. His main interests are in natural resource management, human and social behaviour related to natural resources use in food production; and consumer perceptions of food.

• Download the Terms of Reference for LMARG (Adobe PDF file, 44KB).

The role of the Reference Group is to provide:

• a link between the environmental auditor and the community;
• openness and accountability to the audit process; and
• advice in relation to community communication and information dissemination for local residents, interest groups and river users.

Interested members or groups in the local community who wish to learn more about LMARG can contact Gary Laidlaw, Community Relations West Metro Regional Services on 9695 2560.

• Download LMARG Meeting 1 - 6 October 2005 minutes (Adobe PDF file, 63KB)
• Download LMARG Meeting 2 - 1 December 2005 minutes (Adobe PDF file, 51KB)
• Download LMARG Meeting 3 - 23 February 2006 minutes (Adobe PDF file, 28KB)

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