Western suburbs residents who have been dealing with a mysterious stench have been told to expect more air-quality problems.
The Environment Protection Authority this week issued a poor air quality warning for Brooklyn in coming days while announcing that its air-monitoring stations were offline due to technical difficulties.
The EPA says it is closing in on the source of sewage-type odour reportedly stretching from Geelong to Williamstown that resulted in about 330 complaints from suburbs including Altona, Kingsville, Newport, Maidstone and West Footscray.
EPA director Damian Wells said officers had inspected Werribee and Ravenhall landfills, and the Western Treatment Plant, but did not believe these sites were the source.
“EPA’s investigation has so far found that the odour is coming from the Werribee and Point Cook areas, but we’re yet to pinpoint the exact source,” he said.
He said identifying the source could be difficult as odour plumes moved with weather changes.
The EPA is comparing pollution reports with weather conditions to try to identify the source.
On Monday, the authority issued a public warning that there would be periods of poor air quality in Brooklyn in coming days due to hot, dry and windy weather.
It has contacted businesses in the area, urging them to implement dust-management plans.
Brooklyn Residents Action Group chairman Bert Boere said the EPA should use its mobile monitoring station while its permanent ones were offline.
“They should run that around every now and again over these days and have a bit of a track of what’s happening with the levels because it is really a time when they need to get some readings,” he said.
The EPA said mobile monitoring stations were deployed only for emergency management protocols.
