29 January 2021

WTP Update - January 2021

We hope you are having a lovely summer and to all our birdwatching permit holders we hope you have enjoyed visiting the wondrous wetlands of the Western Treatment Plant over this relatively wet and mild January so far.

World Wetlands Day 2021 - 50th anniversary of the Ramsar Convention

World Wetlands Day is celebrated every year on the 2nd of February and 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention) in Ramsar, Iran, on 2 February 1971.

Melbourne Water is proud to be the caretaker of two internationally-significant Australian Ramsar-listed wetlands; the Edithvale-Seaford Wetland and the Western Treatment Plant’s wetlands and estuaries. Both wetlands provide important habitats that support endangered or critically endangered species.

Visit the following websites to discover more about the 2021 theme of Wetlands and Water:

Image of a heart shaped wetland

Birdwatching permit conditions

This is a reminder to all Western Treatment Plant birdwatching permit holders of the birdwatching permit conditions that you sign up to when applying for a permit.

Please familiarise yourself with these conditions again and keep them front of mind when visiting the site, along with the COVID-safe entry requirements which have been communicated previously and appear on signage and as you sign in using the QR code.

In particular we want to remind birdwatching permit holders, that one of the conditions states that conducting commercial birdwatching tours is strictly prohibited. As our staff are undertaking routine spot checks of our birdwatching access areas, if they come across a commercial tour being undertaken by a permit holder their permit is at risk of being revoked for failing to meet permit conditions.

Our current focus is on sewage treatment and the safe re-opening of the site after the site was closed during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however we are working on an equitable and safe way of introducing a licence for birdwatching tour operators which we hope to implement during 2021.

YourSay survey

Thank you to the many Western Treatment Plant Your Say followers that took the time to respond to our survey before Christmas on how we can best enhance and develop YourSay to meet your needs. We will report back on findings and next steps over the coming weeks.

Please ensure you are following this YourSay page to receive news about the latest developments of the birdwatching tour operator licence process and other WTP related news.

If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to contact us via email [email protected] or telephone 131 722.

Thank you.

Western Treatment Plant team