BAYSWATER SEPTIC SECRETS
PARTS OF THE Bayswater brook currently have the beautiful aroma of raw sewage, in the year 2020, in Australia. MORE INFORMATIONLATEST NEWS ON THE RIVER
Can it get any worse? Special signage created by the City of Bayswater: Don’t even touch the river water!
It’s difficult to imagine that our local river can be so dangerous to animals and humans that we are no longer even able to touch the water. No swimming, no sailing, no water ski activities.
Toxic water can kill fish and animals, so the full scale of the environmental effects are yet to be understood. Watch this space.
RIVER CONDITIONS
Hundreds of dead fish seen in Swan River
Hundreds of dead fish have been seen floating in the Swan River in Perth, prompting an investigation.
The Parks and Wildlife Service says at least 600 dead fish have been reported in the river near Garratt Road Bridge in Bayswater and upstream in northeast Perth.
The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions is investigating the cause of the fish deaths.
The departments warned people against collecting the dead fish and urged them to avoid areas of the Swan River where the fish were.
Closer to the river
What’s causing this highly dangerous algae along the river?
Could this be the human effluent flowing down from the estimated 330 unsewered properties in the Bayswater Industrial area west of Tonkin highway, that contains an estimated 1200 businesses and 3500 workers.
These figures are estimated because the City of Bayswater can’t tell us.
ON THE WAY TO THE RIVER
A brook that has the stench of raw sewage. In Bayswater.
This photograph was taken at Bayswater Brook, on the corner of Clavering Rd and Railway Pde in Bayswater. Parts of the brook currently have the beautiful aroma of raw sewage, in the year 2020, in Australia.
We’ve had people complain that they can smell the sewage as they drive down Guildford Road, where the brook intersects the road between Newton Street and Slade Street.
uphill from the river
The red lines are the current sewer connections in the area.
So what are the white area west of Tonkin Highway? They are Industrial blocks not connected to the sewer.
An area of approximately 133 hectares when you remove the roads. Working on the Water Corporations standard of 0.295l/s and the area involved, you have over 2.5 million litres of septic waste being dumped into the ground water every day, that’s about 1 full Olympic sized swimming Pool.
And this is 2020. And happening 50 meters from the proposed WA Labor METRONET.
from the past, but still very present
Bayswater 135 years ago not so different today
In 1885, the Inquirer and Commercial News reported that Bayswater was a dumping ground for human waste, politely referred to as night soil in the article.
Waste was trenched into the ground in Bayswater, much to the disgust of the reporter. A main concern was possible pollution of the Swan River just meters away from the stinking trenches.
Now in 2020, the stench is posted directly underground via septic tanks, only surfacing occasionally via Bayswater Brook on its likely way to the Swan River.
POLLUTION & NEGLECT OF A DIFFERENT KIND
Owned by the Department of Planning and Infrastructure??
It sure is. This abandoned building is polluting in a different way than the septic tanks of modern Bayswater. No it’s not top of our list, but we feel it’s definitely worthy of a mention. Is this how we want Bayswater to look? Absolutely not. Is this how the Department of Planning and Infrastructure feel about Bayswater? Take a look at more photographs of the building here.
A map of the affected area:
Get to know your
Bayswater Elected Members
North Ward
Cr Filomena Piffaretti - Mayor
Cr Josh Eveson
Cr Michelle Sutherland
West Ward
Cr Dan Bull
Cr Lorna Clarke
Cr Giorgia Johnson
Central Ward
Cr Assunta Meleca
Cr Sally Palmer
Cr Steven Ostaszewskyj
South Ward
Cr Catherine Ehrhardt - Deputy Mayor
Cr Elli Petersen-Pik
Get to know your
Minister for Environment
Baldivis Electorate
Hon Reece Whitby MLA
Minister for Environment; Climate Action; Racing and Gaming.
Contact Details:
Electorate Office:
Shop 4/61 Makybe Drive Baldivis Square Shopping Centre
Baldivis WA 6171
Ph: 08 6552 6300
Email: Minister.Whitby@dpc.wa.gov.au
Ministerial Office:
7th Floor Dumas House 2 Havelock Street
WEST PERTH WA 6005
Ph: (08) 6552 6300
Email: Minister.Whitby@dpc.wa.gov.au
About:
Reece became Minister for Environment and Climate Action on 21 December 2021, before adding Racing and Gaming on 14 December 2022.
Reece’s interest in community and current events led him to embark on a career in journalism.
Reece often reported on battlers standing up for a fair go, which encouraged his interest in the potential for the political system to help create better, fairer communities.
About – What, why, when & where…
As a local Bayswater resident I was brought up in Slade Street and went to the local primary school in Bayswater.
I spent my early years in the river, and the Bayswater swimming club at Garrett Road.
A qualified health inspector, at over 70 years of age, I have been paying rates to the City of Bayswater for 55 years, and still work in the Bayswater Industrial area. This area has been blighted and left to decay.
We were promised a sewer in the 60’s 70’s, and 80’s when there was a government sewer infill program.
The abandoned building alongside the putrid brook is owned by the Department of planning and infrastructure. See the photos here. This is what they think of the area.
- Help us keep the sh*t out of the river! This alone is a monumental disgrace, and environmental disaster.
- We need a proper working and playing environment for our kids and their kids.
- Help the property owners get value for their land!
- Help small businesses in the area!
We can’t stop the damage done by the CSBP limited site 100 meters away. (that horse has bolted) see the EPA report here. But what we can do is remove the 3.3million litres of septic waste per day that is being dumped into the groundwater.
The river has always been sacred to me . Help protect it from our sh*t.
We must be able to take action against the City of Bayswater and the State Government for this negligence and worse.
Currently, we are looking for volunteers to help us clean up Bayswater. It’s not always obvious in what ways you might be able to help us, so please do get in touch with your offer of help. We need help with local leaflet delivery, we want local business owners and residents to get in touch, we need help from environmental advisors, but particularly need a legal advisor to help us take action. Please! Make yourself known to us!
Join the fight!
Please email us: bayswatersepticsecrets@outlook.com.au
Join us on Facebook: Click here
ARTHUR HINDS
Inaugural Speech to parliament, Tuesday November 11 2008:
Winding through the electorate we have the amazing Derbal Yerrigan, our Swan River, which is a natural resource and a source of life, history, leisure and tradition. The people in my electorate regard the Derbal Yerrigan with great pride and are committed to protecting it for generations to come.
