Joseph Maurovic has started emptying two million litres of contaminated water from his farm dam but says help is needed for people with erosion and contamination problems after the February By Kath Gannaway
YARRA Ranges councillor Jeanette McRae has called for a co-ordinated response to erosion and pollution problems resulting from the bushfires in Steels Creek.
The call came with the realisation that erosion and waterway contamination in the area are fast becoming an overwhelming problem for many landowners with properties on the steep, denuded hills, for farmers on the river flats, and for a growing number of people whose dams have already been declared contaminated.
The Mail reported last week that Steels Creek had been identified as a high-risk area for erosion and the Department of Primary Industries last week warned of problems with contaminated dams and the potential for those problems to worsen with autumn and winter rains.
The DPI has already confirmed that Joseph Maurovic’s farm dam in Greenwood Lane is contaminated and he has started pumping the two million litres of water into the overspill, which in turn feeds into a neighbour’s dam. That dam is also contaminated.
Pointing at the weekend to the massive build-up of black mud, Mr Maurovic said the DPI believe there might also be dead native animals in the dam.
He estimates it will cost him $10,000 to clean out his dam once it is emptied and says calls for assistance have led to one dead-end after another.
“Nobody is coming to our rescue,” he said. “We have animals dying, drinking the contaminated water – deer, kangaroos and wallabies – and nobody is able to do anything. We can’t even get the dead animals, which are dying close to the house, removed.”
Mr Maurovic said he was advised by the DPI that he should ring the Bushfire Information Line for help to remove the animals but they referred him to the Shire of Yarra Ranges.
“We had two people come out from the shire but they said they could only remove animals on private property that had been burnt in the fire.”
At the Shire of Yarra Ranges council meeting on Tuesday Cr McRae moved a motion calling on the State Government to act as a matter or urgency. She called for the government to establish a co-ordinated response and funding to tackle land and waterway issues on both private and public land.
Mr Maurovic said he had no choice but to forge ahead with the work. But he says he is disappointed there seems to be no plan or practical assistance to help landowners to deal with what are direct consequences of the bushfires and their potential to cause enormous damage to the environment.
