Poo Warning Australian beaches

Australian swimmers in Melbourne can not currently be going into the sea.

By severe storms and heavy rainfall, the contaminated water is blown into the bay. People who have ingested the water running under greater risk of gastroenteritis. Especially for children and the elderly contaminated water can be dangerous.

The authorities measure the degree of contamination of the water on the basis of the bacterium enterococcus. In dry periods, 100 milliliters of water contains about forty of these bacteria. The authorities in Port Philip Bay, the bay where the affected beaches are 400 or more measured bacteria per 100 milliliters.

'We have indicators of fecal contamination, which is a neat definition of poop,' said Dr. Anthony Boxshall of the authority for nature protection, EPA. 'It is bird droppings, it's horse shit, it's cow dung and it's human shit. '