The police officer in charge of the emergency response to the Menindee fish kill says they should have called in the health department and national parks service on the first day.
The Wilcannia-based New South Wales police inspector Andrew Mensforth activated the emergency operations centre (EOC) after being contacted on 18 March, two days after the mass fish kill was first reported.
Mensforth said police led the emergency response because they have the power to bring together all the agencies needed through establishing an EOC under the State Emergency Response Management (Serm) Act.
He also said that the police “took it over” because there was a bit of “toing and froing” between regulatory bodies in charge of the river on who the lead agencies should be.
It was the first time police had led the response to such an event, and Mensforth said there are several things he would do differently if it were to happen again.
“We didn’t bring in national parks fast enough,” he said. “They should have been there from the first go, and so should have health. They should have been there in the first meeting.”
Mensforth said the health department’s presence was crucial because “the main reason we opened it was to ensure that the water supply for Menindee was fine”.
The water supply remained within Australian drinking water guidelines throughout the incident. Mensforth was among the officials who drank a glass of town water at a town meeting in Menindee to prove it was safe.
Up to 20 million native fish, mostly bony bream, perished in the mass fish kill in far-west NSW, in an event that reportedly stretched 30km downstream of Menindee.
Mensforth said he would have brought NSW national parks to respond to reports of wildlife becoming ill from drinking “the bad water”.
He said all those lessons will be examined in a review into the multi-agency emergency response, which will begin on 18 May in Dubbo.
The DPI, WaterNSW, EPA, Essential Water and the Central Darling shire council will also take part.
He added it was likely the police would lead emergency responses to future fish kill events.
“The scientists are saying that this will happen again,” he said. “So our response to it next time will be much better.”
The response arrangements are determined by the State Emergency Management Plan (Emplan) and the Serm Act.
The NSW DPI said it was supportive of the police leading the emergency response to fish kills.
“Given the impact was on communities, water security and the environment, a coordinated response to bring together multi-agency input was required,” the department said. “In these circumstances, as per the NSW Emergency Management Plan, that response is to be led by NSW police.”
In the case of future fish kill events, the DPI said it would support the police being the lead agency “if social amenity and water security are also impacted by water quality issues as well as native fish and their habitats”.
“When native fish and their habitats alone are impacted by poor water quality, then under NSW legislation NSW DPI will be the lead agency in any response.
The NSW EPA said it would not be appropriate to comment on the response arrangements.
“The EPA is now undertaking a full investigation to determine the potential cause of the mass fish kill, whether any pollution offences were committed, and whether any regulatory action needs to be taken,” a spokesperson said.
