From the tranquil waters of Pea Soup to the sandy shores of East Beach, Port Fairy attracts a range of water users all year round. Whether you’ve brought along your bathers, surf board, snorkel or fishing rod, Port Fairy’s beaches are a great place to visit.
To help ensure swimmers and other recreational users can be confident they are enjoying the cool, clean Southern Ocean waters that Port Fairy is recognised for, its beaches are being monitored and reported as part of a pilot program.
Moyne Shire Council is partnering with Wannon Water to deliver a 12-month trial based on the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) monitoring program for Port Phillip Bay. The aim of the program is to better understand potential health risks, identify possible pollution sources and inform future management actions.
The Port Fairy Ocean Water Quality Monitoring pilot program involves collecting several samples from the shoreline of Port Fairy’s popular recreational beaches – Golfies, East Beach, The Passage, South Beach and Pea Soup. In addition to the beach samples are also taken from stormwater outlets, at the mouth of the Moyne River and at the edge of the Wannon Water outfall mixing zone. These additional samples will aid to inform how beach water quality may be impacted.
The pilot program involves collection of additional samples, with fortnightly sampling during peak recreational use until the end of March 2022. Monthly sampling will occur from April to the end of October 2022. Beach water will also be sampled following significant weather events such as heavy rainfall or very high tides, and, if plumes of algal blooms are observed or reported.
For more details and the latest results please contact Wannon Water on 1300 926 666.
