Maylands Lakes

The City has deployed four new traps at Maylands Lakes in an effort to reduce midge activity.

The City has partnered with the Bayswater Community Men’s Shed to construct the traps, with Men's Shed members building the frames that sit atop the bins which collect midge. Approximate midge numbers are reported each week.

For more information on midge numbers, click on the Midge Management tile on the project page or visit PowerBI to view the data.

The City continues to work on managing midge numbers through applying larvicides to the maximum permitted level and through the raking of midge breeding areas.

Existing midge traps have been adjusted to turn on earlier in the evening to better intercept midge before they reach light sources on private properties.

To help minimise the impact of midge during these times of elevated breeding, residents can:

• Keep windows and doors closed at sunset and early in the morning
• Place blacklight traps outside their property
• Install fine mesh flyscreens
• Reduce the wattage of external lights
• Use yellow external lights
• Apply a registered residual barrier insecticide on external harbourage areas of your home. Impacted residents can obtain a barrier insecticide and supporting information free of charge by contacting the City’s Environmental Health team on 9272 0648.

Pictured: City of Bayswater Acting Mayor Elli Petersen-Pik with Bayswater Community Men’s Shed President Bill Voss and member Lloyd.

The City has appointed Mr Ian Edwards to the Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) for Maylands Lakes. This is in addition to the recent appointment of Dr John Ruprecht to the SAP.

Ian Edwards has a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) and 35 years of engineering experience in the mining industry.

Ian lives adjacent to Lake Bungana and has been passionately assisting the City to manage water quality challenges at the site.

He has practical experience and working knowledge of pumps and filters, and has designed large-scale filtration systems for mining projects.

We trust Ian’s experience and expertise will contribute to achieving positive outcomes for Maylands Lakes.

The City will undertake landscape rejuvenation works in the garden bed area adjacent to De Havilland View near Lake Bungana from Monday 2 September 2024. Plants will be a native species mix, endemic to the area and proven to tolerate local conditions. The plants will provide a floral display and act as habitat for endemic fauna. A species list is provided in the Documents section under Letters to Community. If you have any questions, please contact the City’s Natural Area Coordinator Matthew Moore at matthew.moore@bayswater.wa.gov.au.

Additional Scientific Advisory Panel member

At the April 2024 Ordinary Council Meeting, it was resolved to include an additional member on the Scientific Advisory Panel with an engineering and/or environmental engineering background, with knowledge and/or experience in dealing with similar lakes environments.

Following an expression of interest process, Professor John Ruprecht has been appointed to the panel. Dr Ruprecht brings a wealth of knowledge and is highly regarded in the engineering and water management field. His qualifications include a Bachelor of Engineering, Master of Engineering Studies, MBA and PhD.

His background includes working with the City of Melville on water quality improvements at Frederic Baldwin Lake and Capel Lakes water quality with Iluka. Dr Ruprecht is also an Associate Professor at the Centre for Water, Energy and Waste within the Harry Butler Institute at Murdoch University.

Expressions of Interest for the use of pumps and filtration

The City has progressed expressions of interest (EOI) for the use of pumps and filtration following Council’s resolution at its April 2024 meeting.

EOIs were invited to offer proven solutions to:

• remove cyanobacteria
• prevent the release of cyanobacteria toxins
• prevent reoccurrence of cyanobacteria blooms.

Project delivery firm Plexus Water & Energy is assisting the City in progressing the EOI. Twenty-three companies registered and, of these, eight responded to the EOI with nine potential solutions. Outcomes of the EOI process will be presented as a report at the Ordinary Council Meeting on 27 August 2024. Subject to this, a tender process will be required to engage an appropriate contractor. It is hoped to have a preferred solution identified by spring 2024 with infrastructure in place by early 2025.

Maylands Lakes Environmental Restoration Masterplan

Alluvium Consulting, in collaboration with Josh Byrne and Associates, have been appointed to develop the Maylands Lakes Environmental Restoration Masterplan. The consultant has considerable experience in the management of lakes and water bodies across Australia and is experienced in dealing with water quality issues and approaches to mitigate them. The consultant will be in attendance at the Maylands Lakes Community Forum on 5 September at the Maylands Sport and Recreation Club.

A project plan and engagement plan with deliverables and associated timeframes is currently being refined by the consultant and will be published prior to the forum.

Community members are invited to the second Maylands Lakes Community Forum.

These forums will be held quarterly as part of the City’s commitment to addressing the water quality and midge issues at Maylands Lakes.

The details are as follows:

• Time: 5.30pm (for a 6pm start) until 7.30pm
• Date: Thursday 5 September 2024
• Location: Main Function Hall, Maylands Sport and Recreation Club, 50 Clarkson Road, Maylands
• RSVP: By 5pm, Friday 30 August 2024 to Coordinator Executive Services, Nicole Ceric, via nicole.ceric@bayswater.wa.gov.au or 9272 0622

During the forum, the City will provide an update on actions taken since the previous forum.

We thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to improve the environmental conditions at Maylands Lakes.

New dashboards have been created, offering detailed information on water quality monitoring and midge management.

These dashboards will be updated as the City receives relevant data, providing you with up to date information.

Edith Cowan University students are visiting the lakes on Monday 29 July as part of a site tour of Perth wetlands highlighting the challenges in managing urban waterways.

At its July meeting, Council voted unanimously to award the Maylands Lakes Environmental Restoration Masterplan tender to Alluvium Consulting.

Alluvium Consulting provides catchment, river and coastal analysis and advice, designing strategies and devising practical solutions to issues associated with natural and built environments.

Awarding the tender fulfills one of a range of new actions endorsed by Council for the City to undertake in its efforts to address environmental conditions at Maylands Lakes.

In April, Council endorsed the scope for the Maylands Lakes Environmental Restoration Masterplan, which was broadened to include the option to investigate mechanical pumping and filtration. Other options, including relevant case studies, will also be considered during the Masterplan process.

Development of the Masterplan will span the following 12 to 18 months, with stages including data review, stakeholder and community engagement, preliminary concept development, and detailed design.

In addition to stakeholder and community engagement, members of the Maylands Lakes Scientific Advisory Panel will oversee the development of the Masterplan.

The City has undertaken a larvicide treatment at Lake Bungana for midge. The City is monitoring midge numbers at Maylands Lakes in order to effectively target management actions.

The City of Bayswater is inviting community members to take part in the restoration and enhancement of the vegetated area around Lake Bungana as part of water quality improvement works at Maylands Lakes.

This program of works aims to improve water quality, provide habitat for native animals and improve the visual amenity of Lake Bungana. The area is currently dominated by Paperbark (Melaleuca quinquenervia) and River Sheoak (Casuarina cunninghamiana) tree species.

As part of the Maylands Lakes Restoration Plan, the City is seeking to replace these invasive tree species with native vegetation along the Lake Bungana shore to assist with nutrient stripping and create a more diverse environment to provide habitat for fauna.

A community planting day, seeking to add 2,000 native plants to the area, will take place from 9am to 12pm on Sunday 4 August 2024.