Plumbers and other tradies are being told to be extra careful with coloured marker dye after several incidents turn creeks and stormwater drains bright blue, green and orange.
According to Victoria’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), the widely used non-toxic dye, called fluorescein, is still giving investigators a headache as it makes its way into public waterways by diverting attention away from more serious pollution cases.
EPA south-west Victoria regional manager Carolyn Francis said it could also be distressing for communities and Traditional Owners to see natural waterways stained an unnatural colour.
“Fluorescein is most often used by plumbers to check pipe connections or spot leaks. It is useful and non-toxic, but it is also highly concentrated, so it’s easy to overdo it,” she said.
“EPA will investigate any contaminant in a waterway in case it’s a hazardous chemical, but this year we’ve responded to numerous incidents involving fluorescein that took up investigators’ time and could easily have been prevented.“
She said the fluorescein incidents were a visual demonstration of how the community’s streets, gutters and drains were pathways to the region’s waterways.
“Anything you wash into a stormwater drain will end up in our creeks, rivers and oceans. EPA will investigate and can issue fines, but prevention is always a better protection for the environment.“
“A little fluorescein goes a long way, so we are calling on plumbers and anyone else working with dye to make sure they follow the manufacturer’s instructions.”
This warning came too late for landscaping contractor Super Gardens, who was slapped with a hefty $25,000 fine for unknowingly dropping hazardous chemicals into the surrounding stormwater system, turning the nearby Gardiners Creek blue.
The company had been spraying marker dye and fungicide onto grass at their worksite, then washing the containers out into a stormwater drain.
Staff told EPA inspectors they thought the drain contained a triple interceptor pit, which filters hydrocarbons, but an inspection showed there was no filter, and the company accepted that it had failed to take reasonable steps to stop waste from entering the stormwater system.
EPA Victoria CEO Lee Miezis says the sizable fine shows how the General Environmental Duty can be enforced to protect the environment and the community from pollution.
“The General Environmental Duty applies to every person and organisation in Victoria, it requires them to assess the risks from their business or other activities and take reasonable steps to prevent harm from pollution or waste that affects the environment or people’s health,” Mr Miezis said.
“This case demonstrates that people and businesses are not just responsible for pollution when it occurs but also for their failures to take reasonable steps to prevent it, which is a much broader scope of offending.
“The message is clear, identify the risks and take action to prevent them before the worst can happen.”
