Beach monitoring program
In March EPA announced it was continuing weekly monitoring of beach water quality in Port Phillip Bay, beyond the 07-08 summer Beach Report season.
This monitoring is in response to the community’s interest in comprehensive and up-to-date information about water quality in Port Phillip Bay beaches.
EPA has been monitoring and reporting on beach water quality for more than 20 years. EPA receives feedback that the community see this program as valuable, providing confidence about beach health and the safe use of beaches for recreation.
EPA will continue to provide up-to-date information about beach water quality at 36 monitored beaches around Port Phillip Bay. The program includes physical, biological and chemical indicators.
This program will continue for the duration of the current dredging. The design of the monitoring program will be reviewed periodically based on the findings.
EPA's regular monitoring shows that generally water quality in Port Phillip Bay is good for swimming.
There are many processes that can affect the health of the Bay. In particular stormwater can carry with it a range of pollutants. Other things that can raise the levels of a particular contaminant in Port Phillip Bay include dredging, weather events that stir up sediments, pollution incidents or accidents and even normal shipping movements.
Click here to see a map of the 36 monitored beaches
Assessment and reporting
Samples are collected weekly from 36 beaches and the results of laboratory analysis will be published on EPA’s website.
EPA will assess these results against investigation levels based on established guideline values (The State Environment Protection Policy (Waters of Victoria) (2003) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC 2008) Guidelines for Managing Risks in Recreational Water)
. For more details on the actual contaminants and relevant guideline levels, please visit the section on monitoring biological and chemical indicators.
Visit our guidelines page for more information on how these guidelines are applied.
Where necessary EPA will work with the Department of Human Services to provide advice to the beach users based on the monitoring results.
If unusually elevated concentrations are identified EPA will seek to identify possible causes and work with the relevant agencies to respond.
The latest available results
The latest results available indicate that the majority of beaches are within the guideline levels for all parameters, except for bacterial levels at Frankston Coast Guard. The enterococci results from Frankston Coast Guard are above guideline levels and likely to be linked with the rain on Monday 23 June.
Due to severe weather conditions on Tuesday 1 July, scheduled beach sampling in the northern and southern regions of the Bay (Werribee South to Portsea) has been delayed. As a result, the sample analysis will be similarly delayed but results will be released as soon are they are available from the laboratory.
As a general precaution, EPA advises against swimming near turbid or discoloured water as well as near stormwater drains, rivers, streams and other outlets into Port Phillip Bay during rainfall and for at least 24 hours afterward.
Download the latest bacterial results 
(Adobe PDF file)
Download the latest complete set of monitoring results including results for bacteria, algae, metals and organic chemicals (Adobe PDF file)
Note – bacterial monitoring results are generally available within about 24 hours of sampling and as a result are posted as soon as they are available. The complete results for all parameters are generally available within 8-10 days of sampling and are published about 1 week after the bacterial monitoring results.
Monitoring results since February 2008
EPA has been monitoring beach water quality for an expanded range of indicators since February to provide an initial baseline. Over that time all results have been within the investigation levels established for the program. Some metals reported elevated concentrations in the week of 27 March 2008. This was associated with strong winds and heavy rain. These levels were not at a level to trigger further investigation.
Enterococci results were elevated during the week of 27 March 2008. This was directly related to heavy rainfall moving through the catchments to Port Phillip Bay. These results illustrate the way in which beach water quality can be affected by such events.
As a general precaution, EPA advises against swimming near turbid or discoloured water as well as near stormwater drains, rivers, streams and other outlets into Port Phillip Bay during rainfall and for at least 24 hours afterward.
Download past monitoring results since February 2008 for:
- Bacteria ( Adobe PDF file)
- Algae ( Adobe PDF file)
- Metals ( Adobe PDF file)
- Organic chemicals ( Adobe PDF file)