The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation’s (DWER) Pollution Response Unit is leading an investigation into an oil spill in the City of Stirling’s Herdsman Lake.
In a statement, the Department said the spill was believed to be a large quantity of cooking oil.
It said the DWER was working with the City of Stirling, Water Corporation, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) and the Western Australian Seabird Rescue group (WASR).
Senior Manager Pollution Response at the DWER, Ken Raine said the spill was impacting wildlife, with a number of pelicans cleaned and released by the WASR.
“The DBCA is assessing the impact on other wildlife,” Mr Raine said.
“The Water Corporation is containing the spill with a floating boom and City of Stirling inspectors are tracing the spill’s path to try to discover its source,” he said.
“What appears to be cooking oil has been spotted in the lake over the past month, which means someone might have caused the pollution on more than one occasion.”
He said it was not known exactly how much oil had spilled into the lake, or where it had come from, but it was a substantial pollution event over a period of time.
“We will be deploying drones to assess the extent of the spill and whether we can pinpoint the source, which could be a commercial kitchen due to the amount of oil spilled,” Mr Raine said.
