00:00EPA officer Trent Renshaw hits the sand at Port Melbourne Beach.
00:07But he's not here for a dip.
00:09Today we're taking samples for a bacterial species called Endrococo.
00:13We use it as an indicator for faecal pollution.
00:15Trent is part of a small team of testers from the Environment Protection Authority
00:20rating water quality as poor, fair or good for the EPA's beach reports.
00:25Whether it be from natural sources or human sources,
00:29when rains come through it washes all the runoff either from land or from our stormwater into our bay.
00:36The EPA tests 36 bay beaches every week over summer from Portsea to Queenscliff.
00:41Children, the elderly and even pets are amongst the most vulnerable to pollutants.
00:48We recommend avoid swimming 24 to 48 hours after a heavy rain,
00:53but eventually the pollution will dilute and the water quality will improve.
00:58Last summer, Port Melbourne and St Kilda beaches had the least days with good water quality.
01:03Santa Casa Beach near Queenscliff and Portsea were rated as good most often.
01:09Usually the beaches that are in Mornington or Bellarine Peninsula
01:13show consistent better quality than those beaches that are in the inner city.
01:19Environmentalists say population growth means more pressure is being put on the bay than ever before.
01:25It's going to generate more sewerage.
01:28And so we need to make sure that our sewerage treatment plants are scaled up
01:33to be able to accommodate the extra volumes that are going to be generated.
01:37And stopping pollution is everyone's job.
01:40It's a wonderful thing that we've got our access to.
01:44And that's the reason why there's 5.4 million Melbournians living around it.
01:49You know, it really is a jewel.
01:53So let's removeing water and then we have the quantity that is opposite.
01:58It really is a jewel of 25 million people.
01:59It isn't all covered, saying 2001.
02:02We've got a lot of water quality in her life.
02:03We've got lots of water quality, so we've got lots of water quality at the age of 8000 people.
02:06It's a trip to the sea.
02:08We've got lots of water quality here.
02:09We've got lots of water quality and lots of water quality.
