By BRIDGET COOK
A CANNONS Creek resident is angered over the official inaction to her report of an oil leak at a local inlet over the weekend.
Angela Italia and her husband were walking their dog along the foreshore at Cannons Creek on Saturday morning when they came across a large oil spill, which appeared to be coming from a boat submerged in the water.
“When we got out on the pier we noticed that there was a thin layer of oil on the water around the pier,” she said.
“On closer inspection, we soon realised that this oil or pollution spanned the entire width of Rutherford Inlet and it was covering quite a large area.
“There was enough oil in the water that we had to wash our dog afterwards, as he went swimming before we noticed it and was covered in oil.”
Ms Italia said as they were concerned for the welfare of the wildlife in the area, they decided to call someone and report this issue.
“The tide was running out and it was obvious that all of this pollution was heading straight out into Western Port Bay,” she said.
Ms Italia said they called the EPA and reported the issue.
“He took down our details, and the details of our concern, gave us a reference number, and then told us that because it was the weekend, he was really not sure who would be able to assist,” she said.
“Therefore not much could be done about it.”
“I also sent an email to the EPA at the same time detailing the oil problem and still no response from them even today.
“Not satisfied with this lame response from an organisation whose role is ‘environment protection and monitoring’, we then called Parks Victoria.
“After several minutes of automated response, there was no option to be put through to a call centre, so that was a dead end also.”
Ms Italia said they also called the council but all they could do was lodge the complaint with the EPA.
Ms Italia said nothing was done about it all weekend.
“The following morning I went back down to the inlet to see the boat still submerged, and nothing had changed,” she said.
“No one had bothered to try and recover the sinking boat, or stop the oil leaking out of it.
“I am really disappointed and annoyed to think that we were trying to do the right thing and we were concerned about our local environment and no one did anything about it.
“All because it was a bit too hard to find someone to help on a weekend.”
An EPA spokesperson said the EPA had two community reports of a spill at Cannons Creek on Saturday.
“EPA inspected but could find no visible signs of pollution,” the spokesperson said.
“As a precaution, EPA contacted the asset owner, Parks Victoria, which confirmed they knew of a sunken boat with no motor.
“Parks have been in contact with the owner to have the boat removed as it poses a navigation issue.”
