Anglesea River water quality review

Background

An independent review into water quality issues in the Anglesea River has been released.

The review by Professor William Maher found low pH and elevated metal levels resulted predominantly from natural sources in the catchment.

This follows an investigation in 2010 by the EPA that linked fish deaths that year to low pH and elevated metal levels in the river.

The review into water quality issues at the river was instigated following community concerns about the health of the river.

The review examined:

the history of acid events in the Anglesea estuary
sources of acidic water and metals to the estuary
the role of specific factors such as land-use in the catchment, licensed discharge into the river and water extraction
options for remediation.

A copy of the media release announcing the findings and the government’s response is available here: