The Mayor of Kingborough, Cr Dean Winter has announced Blackmans Bay Beach north has returned good water quality results and is now safe for swimming.
“We are removing the advisory signs against swimming and are delighted that the water quality has returned good results,” said Cr Winter.
“But the fact remains, there has been a major environmental incident here. I am calling on the State Government to take the lead on an urgent investigation.
“These results show the contamination must be from an external source and we need to ascertain where it came from and where it has gone. Tasmanians only have a small window of warm weather to enjoy swimming in our waterways and they should feel safe and confident to do so. This requires State Government commitment to investigate this incident urgently.
“We advised against swimming yesterday due to the astronomical pollution results received at Blackmans Bay beach, as we need to put the health of our community first and foremost. Today I am announcing an expansion of what we are already doing to monitor our beaches.
- Council will extend its intensive testing regime for the remainder of summer. This is the testing Council conducts on top of the work already done the Derwent Estuary Program.
- We will publish this data as soon as it is available so that people can see exactly what is going on at Blackmans Bay and Kingston Beaches and feel safe to swim in these popular beaches.
“I understand that some people in the community will have lost confidence in the water quality at Blackmans Bay Beach. We will do everything we can to restore confidence, but to do that we need to urgently find the cause of this week’s incident.”