‘Smells like a toilet': Workers scramble to mop up mass sewage leak in Perth's inner suburbs
A creeping deluge of human waste sliding into Perth's Swan River has been stopped but authorities are having to custom-make pipes to fix the massive spill.
The spill centred around the suburbs of Beaconsfield and Spearwood, just to the south of Fremantle, and began on Friday.
On Monday night, pools of human waste were still sitting across soccer pitches in Beaconsfield, and had run down to the Fremantle commercial and recreational fishing boat harbour.
'Sewage has been identified at the stormwater drain at the southern end of Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour,' a spokesperson for the City of Fremantle said on Monday night.
'As a result, the groyne in the Fishing Boat Harbour is closed until further notice.'
Water Corporation has warned people not to fish in sections of the Swan River or at the Fremantle Sailing Club because of overflows. The government water authority also cautioned people that areas in Spearwood and Beaconsfield could smell bad.
'Went out to look and you could smell it,' a Beaconsfield resident told Channel 9.
'Smells like a toilet.'
The issue started when a sewer main burst on Hamilton Road in Spearwood on Friday. Small and related overflows were sparked in the leafy, riverside suburbs of Alfred Cove, Applecross and seaside South Fremantle.
These overflows, in and around the Swan River, have entered the major river.
'The repair in Spearwood is quite complex, instead of being able to weld a band around that pipeline, we're having to prefabricate a new section of pipeline,' a Water Corporation spokesman told media on Monday.
The water authority was also forced to erect a sign near the stagnant pool of human waste at a Spearwood park, telling people not to jet ski or sail on the water, drink it or swim in it.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
Icy homes: Why most Aussies are using their heaters the wrong way
Icy mornings across much of the country in recent days have delivered a reminder to many Aussies that no matter how much they blast their heaters, warmth never seems to stay for long. Housing experts have revealed that this chill isn't just down to the weather — it's a design flaw baked into the way Australian homes have been built for decades. And it means that most households are using heaters in an inefficient way that's sending their power bills through the roof – without doing an adequate job of keeping the interior warm. A common problem is that heaters are being used in rooms that lack insulation and are too open and too large for the heater to deliver any meaningful feeling of extra warmth. Dr Sarah Robertson, research fellow at the RMIT University Centre for Urban Research said most Australian homes were simply never designed with winter comfort in mind. 'We have work to do to improve the energy efficiency of our housing stock,' she said. Previous energy prices had played a part in promoting a housing climate where poor insulation was common, Dr Robertson added. 'We didn't have the pressure of high energy prices for a long time, until more recently when the costs went up markedly. 'There wasn't that pressure to look at energy efficiency because energy was more affordable.' She added that a key factor in why Aussie homes were often colder than those in chillier countries was that energy efficiency has never been a top priority in residential building standards. 'Our homes tend to lose warm air through poorly sealed windows and doors, and lack the basic insulation needed to retain heat,' Dr Robertson said. 'That makes heating expensive and inefficient.' Even newer homes — some equipped with modern heating systems — struggle to perform. Large open-plan designs and limited zoning controls often mean residents are forced to heat the entire house rather than a single room, driving up costs while also minimising heater effectiveness. Australian energy regulations have improved over time, but housing researchers claim the standards are still far behind comparable nations. Dr Nicola Willand of the RMIT University School of Property, Construction and Project Management has previously noted that Aussie regulatory standards reinforced heating levels that were below par. Homes in North America and Europe — even in comparable climates — are more than 50 per cent more efficient when it comes to heating and cooling. The average overseas home exceeds a seven-star energy rating, while most Australian homes still lag well behind that benchmark, even after almost two decades of awareness. The National Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme, which governs home energy star ratings for new dwellings, assumes living room heaters are switched off between midnight and 7am. The problem is that this warmth dissipates quickly in most Aussie homes because of the poor insulation, resulting in cold living areas. The scheme also assumes a heating thermostat setting in bedrooms of 15 degrees between midnight and 7am – lower than the 18 degrees recommended by the World Health Organisation. '(These) assumptions suggest that being cold at 7am, when most of us are getting ready for work and school, is acceptable,' Dr Willand said. 'By contrast, energy efficiency ratings in other countries will assume heating in all rooms and at all hours of the day and night.' Poor thermal design is only part of the problem. Many Aussies remain unaware of the health risks of cold indoor air, including respiratory illness, cardiovascular stress, and the spread of mould. Retrofits – including proper ceiling insulation, draught sealing, window upgrades, and thermal assessments – are now being recommended. Many states offer rebates to help with the cost, but take-up remains modest.
ABC News
6 hours ago
- ABC News
Cold weather in southern Queensland expected to remain until next week
The weather divide between Queensland's north and south has sharpened this week, as those above of the Tropic of Capricorn enjoy beach weather while southerners crowd around heaters and fireplaces. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the north is sitting on or slightly above average temperatures for this time of year. Cairns and Port Douglas are forecast to reach 28 degrees Celsius on Thursday, after similar conditions on Wednesday. On the coast north of Cairns, Ellis Beach Oceanfront Holiday Park manager Nick Giampietro said the sunshine had been a drawcard for southern travellers. "It's beautiful, a little overcast, but people are still swimming in the ocean and the pool, getting around in their bikinis and speedos," he said. "It's really busy at the moment. Most of our powered sites are booked. "Being our peak season, it's chaotic up here." Mr Giampietro said the park had been packed with people escaping the chill. "We've got all the southerners up here getting away from the cold weather down there," he said. Those who decided to tough it out in the south will have their resolve tested, with minimum temperatures forecast to stay well below average for about another week. Oakey on the Darling Downs and the Wellcamp Airport outside Toowoomba plummeted to almost -4C just before 5am on Thursday, while Applethorpe, Dalby, Miles and Warwick all dipped well into the negatives. Further west, Roma in the Maranoa recorded -2.3C, while Kingaroy in the Wide Bay region reached -3C. Daniel Hayes from the Bureau of Meteorology said inland parts of southern and central Queensland would continue to experience minimum temperatures between 4 and 10C below average until Monday. "Very clear, very dry conditions with very low humidity really allow that heat to escape during the day," he said. "Once the sun goes down, we start radiating all that heat out — and with no moisture, no cloud, and very little wind to interfere, it's getting very cool." Mr Hayes said frigid overnight conditions would lead to widespread frost. "Maybe not quite as widespread into places like the Channel Country and up into the Central Highlands and Coalfields," he said. "But we're still expecting to see a fair bit of frost through parts of the Maranoa, the Warrego, and the Darling Downs." There is some relief on the horizon, with a trough developing in the Northern Territory that could lift temperatures in Queensland as it moves east next week. "Probably around Tuesday in particular," Mr Hayes said. "Then we may finally start to see a bit of an easing of those very cool overnight temperatures. "Still probably a little below average — just less cold, rather than particularly warm." He said the same system could even bring some rain to the far north and showers down the coast. "Into places like the Herbert and Lower Burdekin, the northern Goldfields, Upper Flinders, Central Coast, and maybe even into the Capricornia area," he said.
ABC News
7 hours ago
- ABC News
Ghost mushroom season off to slow start under dry conditions in SA's south east
Drought conditions have slowed mushroom growth in South Australia's south-east, including the glowing fungi that has become a popular tourist attraction. Walk the Limestone Coast owner Natasha Dawson has been running ghost mushroom tours in the lower Limestone Coast for the past five years. She said that while the bioluminescent species Omphalotus nidiformis was found across Australia, the Limestone Coast, particularly its forested areas, was the hotspot for them. ForestrySA set up the Ghost Mushroom Lane tourist attraction in 2017, but a poor season in 2023 led to visits to Glencoe confined to tours run by Ms Dawson. So far this year, even she has yet to find enough of the mushrooms to take groups through. "I've found small patches [but] not enough that I would normally like to run a tour," Ms Dawson said. "The key thing is they're just not glowing." Local photographer Steve Chapple said he had also noticed a slow start to the mushroom season. "There's been a fairly significant lack of rain for everybody," he said. Ms Dawson said the ghost fungi species was sensitive to changes to the microclimate. "Of course they need rain, but we also think that they might have needed those really cold nights that we start getting in May to help as well," she said. Flinders University mycologist Michael Taylor said a lack of moisture in the soil meant the fungi had a harder time forming mushrooms. "A really good winter season is normally preceded by a good wet summer," Dr Taylor said. "So the longer it is dry for, the less likely it is that we're going to see a whole lot of mushrooms pop out." Dr Taylor said while no surveying had been undertaken, his observations were that it had "not been a great year for mushrooms so far". "We might see what we call a flush [of mushrooms] towards the end of winter, or into spring, if conditions stay a little bit wet and a little bit more moderate in temperature," he said. "Or we might just have a crumby season all round. Hopefully, we get some better rains next year." He said the lack of glowing could be an indicator that the fungi were not well-fed or were stressed. Ms Dawson said that with recent rain and cooler temperatures, she was hopeful the mushrooms would appear soon. Mr Chapple said he had recently started taking groups out on photography tours as mushrooms have begun to appear, including ghost mushrooms. "It's always cyclical," he said. "But I was panicking about some of the rarer ones that people come from interstate to see. It was a bit difficult to find them this year." In the long term, Dr Taylor said climate change could also change the distribution of different species. "There's probably going to be a mixture of introduced fungi, temperature, rainfall, and a few things that may well change what fungi we see and where we see them over the next 10 to 20 years," he said.
