‘Smells like a toilet': Workers scramble to mop up mass sewage leak in Perth's inner suburbs
A creeping deluge of human waste sliding into Perth's Swan River has been stopped but authorities are having to custom-make pipes to fix the massive spill.
The spill centred around the suburbs of Beaconsfield and Spearwood, just to the south of Fremantle, and began on Friday.
On Monday night, pools of human waste were still sitting across soccer pitches in Beaconsfield, and had run down to the Fremantle commercial and recreational fishing boat harbour.
'Sewage has been identified at the stormwater drain at the southern end of Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour,' a spokesperson for the City of Fremantle said on Monday night.
'As a result, the groyne in the Fishing Boat Harbour is closed until further notice.'
Water Corporation has warned people not to fish in sections of the Swan River or at the Fremantle Sailing Club because of overflows. The government water authority also cautioned people that areas in Spearwood and Beaconsfield could smell bad.
'Went out to look and you could smell it,' a Beaconsfield resident told Channel 9.
'Smells like a toilet.'
The issue started when a sewer main burst on Hamilton Road in Spearwood on Friday. Small and related overflows were sparked in the leafy, riverside suburbs of Alfred Cove, Applecross and seaside South Fremantle.
These overflows, in and around the Swan River, have entered the major river.
'The repair in Spearwood is quite complex, instead of being able to weld a band around that pipeline, we're having to prefabricate a new section of pipeline,' a Water Corporation spokesman told media on Monday.
The water authority was also forced to erect a sign near the stagnant pool of human waste at a Spearwood park, telling people not to jet ski or sail on the water, drink it or swim in it.
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