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EPA warnings tell us that NO bay beaches are safe to swim in after the extreme storms over the past week.

We are often asked about the biggest threats to our dolphins and bays. Jetskis, nets and plastic bags are on top of most people’s list.

In reality it’s the impacts on their environment from all of us living around the bay and what gets washed from our streets, gardens and houses.

This is why stormwater pollution is such a big focus for our ‘i sea, i care’ School Ambassador Program.  We have pioneered education programs around the clean out of Gross Pollution Traps in our stormwater system — and they are GROSS!

The following images shows Ambassadors at a Carrum Downs system that is engineered by Melbourne Water. The large pollutants are trapped in the nets and are emptied many times during the year (many $millions to do this across Melbourne).  Because this site has artificial wetlands created, the sediments and some of the chemicals and nutrients are captured so they don’t reach the bay. This system eventually empties through Kananook Creek into Port Phillip.

Most drains don’t have traps or wetlands and go straight into bays or other waterways.

We all need to be more careful to reduce what we allow to go down our drains off roads, footpaths, drive ways, gardens and even out of sewers (although they are separate to stormwater, it’s all connected to the sea).

#dolphinresearchinstitute #caringforourbays #iseaicare #portphillip #westernport #bay #stormwater

‘i sea, i care’ Ambassadors watch and smell stormwater rubbish being emptied from a gross pollution trap.

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