By Casey Neill
Flourishing wetland or lacklustre lake?
The water body in Monash Reserve on Monash Drive, Dandenong South, is in tip-top shape according to Greater Dandenong Council.
But Arco Restaurant owner Lindsay Bull said it had become a stagnant pond devoid of bird and fish life and filled with mosquitos.
“The lake got very filthy dirty back in December 2015,” he said.
“They were going to empty it. It didn’t end up happening.
“They suggested we needed to keep the fountain running to aerate the water.”
Mr Bull said the pump was attached to Arco and “I was always paying the bills for the electricity of that”.
He said that when he contacted the council about the bills he was told the fountain wasn’t needed after all and was “aesthetic looks for the restaurant”.
It was switched off for a time, but then removed before Christmas and returned in January following repairs, leaving him confused and frustrated.
“We used to have bird life in lake, now there’s nothing,” Mr Bull said.
“There’s no bird life, there’s no fish, there’s no ducks. We used to have pelicans as well.”
The council’s engineering services director Julie Reid said that the lake was a constructed stormwater treatment wetland that formed part of the municipality’s drainage infrastructure.
“Independent assessments carried out recently indicate the wetland is in very good health, attracting both fish and birdlife,” she said.
“On this basis the council considers the current maintenance regime for the wetland is appropriate and there are no immediate plans to alter this.”
The wetland is a passive stormwater management tool in that it holds and treats runoff that can contain contaminants.
A private developer built it in 2007 and the council has managed it for the past six years, including cleaning a pollutant trap, dealing with litter and landscaping.
