The Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) has fined a Sunshine West company $7773 for allowing waste oil to spill from its site and enter the stormwater system.
The EPA launched its investigation following reports of a yellow grey liquid discharging from a drain and into the Fairbairn Road Drain Sediment Pond – a tributary of Kororoit Creek.
EPA officers visited the area, near Silverton Close in Laverton North, and took water samples of the sediment pond, Kororoit Creek and at a nearby site on Normanby Avenue, operated by Tri Tech Chemical Company.
EPA Metro Manager Dan Hunt said the sample results found the discharge comprised of a combination of waste oil mixture. It is not known how much oil escaped the site.
“EPA’s investigation found the discharge was coming from Tri Tech Chemical Company’s site and was caused after a water pipe rupture caused a waste area containing contaminants to overflow,” he said.
“The contaminated water had then escaped through a broken concrete bund and flow onto Normanby Avenue and into the stormwater system via a gutter at the front of the company’s site.”
Mr Hunt said EPA issued the company with a remedial notice requiring they repair the broken concrete bund. It has since been fixed and inspected by EPA.
“Bunding helps to protect the environment by providing a back-up containment system in the event of a spill,” he said.
“If the bund was properly sealed, it may have helped to reduce the amount of waste oil discharged from its site.
“EPA expects preventative actions are taken to help mitigate spills and in the event of incidents, have infrastructure to contain and clean-up chemicals to prevent impacts to the environment.”