Maylands Lakes Water Quality & Amenity

BACKGROUND

The City of Bayswater is committed to improving the water quality, natural habitat and amenity around Maylands Lakes.

Following long-term monitoring and advice by specialist consulting company GHD, in October 2020 Council adopted a plan (based on scientific advice and community input) to dredge parts of Lake Brearley and install mechanical mixers in Lake Bungana and Lake Brearley. The plan also included a fauna study, management and maintenance plan, water monitoring, revegetation to recreate a healthy ecosystem and community involvement.

As a result, the City progressively undertook a number of actions over 2020 to 2023 to improve the water quality at Maylands Lakes. These actions, and the results of regular water quality monitoring at the Lakes, are detailed in the News Feed and Documents sections of this page.

CITY'S DIRECTION – 2023

The City is continuing work on improving the water quality at Maylands Lakes as a priority. The City acknowledges the negative impact that continuing poor water quality, algal blooms and midge are having on residents near Maylands Lakes.

On 12 December 2023, a report was presented to Council to:

1. Provide a holistic view of the water quality issues of the Maylands Lakes system
2. Detail the background of water quality improvement measures undertaken to date, and
3. Recommend a preferred approach to create a sustainable, ecologically sound, self-regulating lake system.

Council subsequently voted to engage a specialist consultant who will assist the City in establishing a Scientific Advisory Panel to develop and oversee a masterplan to address the environmental conditions leading to the over-abundance of midge, cyanobacterial blooms and other water quality issues at Maylands Lakes.

The consultant will also develop a Maylands Lakes Midge Management Plan, which will guide the City in delivering a targeted control program based on scientific information and advice and enable the City to fine tune its treatments on a site-specific basis to ensure treatments are optimised.

The City will also progress with a water mixing trial that aims to improve the water quality of Lake Brearley while managing any associated risks. Council has approved the allocation of funds in its 2023/24 Budget.

KEEP UP TO DATE

More information about Maylands Lakes including their ecology, water quality conditions and midge populations is available in the Frequently Asked Questions.

To keep up to date with the progress, check out the News Feed below or register to Follow the project to the right of this page.