PROPERTY owners in Sanctuary Lakes are forking out $875,000 a year to protect the saltwater lake and Port Phillip Bay from urban runoff, as housing estates continue to sprout in Melbourne’s south-west.
In a bid to trim the maintenance bill, the estate’s management is calling for companies interested in buying massive hauls of seaweed for commercial use.
Sanctuary Lakes general manager Tony Ferreri said an underwater mowing machine, used twice daily, hauled more than 1000 tonnes of seaweed a year.
With $75,000 a year going towards Wyndham Council tip fees to dispose of the seaweed, the resort’s maintenance manager, Greg Fryer, said Sanctuary Lakes would investigate options to sell the seaweed instead.
“We’re calling for community interest for the creative use of the sea grass . . . it could be used as commercial fertiliser or in manufacturing rather that simply going into landfill.”
Double the size of Albert Park Lake, the lake system at Sanctuary Lakes is an integral part of the western suburbs’ environmental management system to safeguard the quality water flowing into Port Phillip Bay.
With increasing pollution entering the waterways due to urban expansion, Mr Ferreri said enrionmental investment was critical to stave off blue-green algae.
“Whatever happens upstream, we have to deal with it,” he said.
“A lot of people see that it’s a very nice lake, but not many know the environmental side of it.
“As far as blue-green algae goes, we test for it and, touch wood, we haven’t had any.”
