Maylands residents have made a tearful plea for help from the City of Bayswater in their ongoing battle against a midge plague.
Homes around the Maylands Lakes have been a battleground in the war against the insects, with their corpses blanketing furniture and blocking pool filters.
The battle has been raging for more than 10 years and there are no signs of an imminent ceasefire.
The Maylands Lakes are former clay mines that were decommissioned in 1986 and allowed to fill, forming the lakes.
They have had persistent water quality issues, including cyanobacterial blooms and “plague densities” of non-biting midge.
The City of Bayswater has been working on the problem since 2015 and is now planning to hire a specialist consultant to prepare a midge management plan, continue a water mixing trial and appoint a scientific advisory panel to oversee a master plan for the lakes.
It has budgeted $500,000 for works on the lakes.
But it can’t come soon enough for Maylands residents, who told a December 5 briefing they had seen previous attempts to solve the problem fail and action was needed now.
About two dozen residents made deputations or quizzed the city at this month’s meetings about what it was going to do.
An emotional Nick Lange told the briefing he and his family were prisoners in their own home and asked why they still had to pay rates when they could not use their amenities.
“There’s a few of us who have refused to pay 50 per cent of our rates,” he said.
“I guess I am frustrated that every time I hear or see something come out, it’s going to take one to two years to do some research. We just don’t have time for this sort of stuff.
“We can’t use our inside area, we can’t use our swimming pools — the blanket of midges over our pool is ridiculous.
“My wife walks the dogs twice a day around that area and comes back covered in midges. I’m talking like through her hair, on her face, on her clothes, she’s breathing in midges, it stinks.”
People in the public gallery applauded after he spoke.
Steven Cloughley said despite $1.2 million being spent by the city, the issue had not been rectified.
He said he had spent $13,000 on replacing pool filters, blinds and outdoor furniture and his family and friends were unable to enjoy the outdoors.
“When we first moved in here 12 years ago, I used to stand out the back looking over the lake going ‘this is just magnificent’, but that quickly turned,” he said.
“When you can’t sell your family home and realise its value and your kids can’t use their backyard, there is a serious problem.
“I believe that the State Government and possibly the Federal Government should be engaged to help us get through this problem because the money and the time and the effort that’s going to be required to fix this, I really don’t think the council has that capability.
“There’s been a lot of people and organisations that have put their two cents in but the fact remains that nothing has worked.
“We now need fresh eyes and that is a scientific advisory board.”
Craig Ashton said action was also needed to reduce bacteria levels in the lakes, which he claimed were 140 to 240 times greater than health guidelines.
“The Maylands Lakes problem has escalated from one of immunity due to midges and smelly unsightly algae to one which is now posing a serious health hazard,” he said.
Friends of Maylands Lakes chairman Kevin Hamersley said action was needed now.
“(The city’s) preferred option is to commission another report that may improve water quality in several years,” he said.
“We urgently need to look at other options now.”
He told the council the proposed advisory group needed to have experts from a wider range of fields as the area was not a lake system but a former mine site.
“We are not opposed to the formation of an expert group to develop a long term solution to the water quality but it must have a broad remit to allow experts in all areas of water management, including mines and reservoirs, to have input,” Mr Hamersley said.
Infrastructure and assets director Luke Botica said a master plan for the lakes would look at reducing bacteria levels in the water but it would not be ready for about 12 to 18 months.
Mayor Filomena Piffaretti had to call for order when Mr Botica said there were signs around the lake warning people not to enter the water.
“We are looking at ways that we can bring it down as soon as possible,” he said.
“We are open to all options and ideas and that’s the whole thinking behind the expert panel, that they’ll be able to point us in the right directions.”
CEO Jeremy Edwards said the city would put a statement about algae levels in the lakes on its website.
“In relation to midge management, city officers are talking with other local governments in relation to their midge management plans … so we can make sure that the directed effort with the money going into midge management is done in the most efficient and effective way,” he said.
Councillors at the December 12 meeting said resolving the issue was their “highest priority”, with Ms Piffaretti saying it “keeps me up at night”.