THE Environment Protection Authority say they are aware of dairy farmers in the south-west who don’t manage their effluent properly and have urged others to report them.
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The EPA’s 2016-17 annual report revealed there were 1499 reports of pollution in south-west.
Of those reports, 455 were for odour, 193 were for noise, 151 were for waste and 181 were for water.
There were also 175 reports to the EPA for dust and 182 for smoke.
EPA south west regional manager Carolyn Francis said the authority was aware of farmers who were not complying with the proper management of effluent. She said if anyone knew of farms that weren’t compliant they should contact the EPA.
She said staff from the EPA could then assist farmers to fix their pond systems.
“It’s a big area and we rely on people to report pollution,” she said.
“Once we get that information we can investigate.”
Ms Francis said the EPA had a busy year in the south-west with pollution reports, planning referrals and EPA field inspection numbers all increasing steadily in recent years.
She said the authority was involved in response and recovery work for significant flooding in the south-west during September 2016.
There was an increased issuing of sanctions for those who broke the law in the past financial year, including a cream spill in Colac and a sewage spill in Ballarat. There was also 38 full compliance assessments of licensed sites across the region.
“The staff of EPA live and breathe their work and are committed to protecting Victorians and their environment,” EPA acting chief executive officer Tim Eaton said.
He said a reform program meant the EPA was equipped to deal with emerging challenges such as growing pressure on Victoria’s landscape, waterways and air from population growth.
“This plan sets our strategic direction and will help EPA become a more modern and agile organisation and a world-class regulator of pollution and waste,” he said.
He said the EPA could now deploy indicative air monitoring equipment to an incident anywhere in Victoria within four hours of notification. Over the past year, the EPA received more than 11,000 pollution reports and almost 2000 emergency notifications around the state.