Victoria’s sewage system has been shut down as a precaution after an emergency leak at the Victoria Aqueducts plant in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
The state’s Health Department said on Monday that it was shutting down the system for three days in the Pilbara as a “safety precaution” while the leak was investigated.
“The emergency management team are working with the Australian Water Industry Association to investigate the cause of the leak,” a spokesperson for the Health Department told Al Jazeera.
“This will be a precautionary measure for the duration of the shutdown.”
The spokesperson added that “the safety of the public is paramount”.
Victoria is one of three Western Australian states where water supply is currently under state of emergency as a result of a spill at the Aqueducre plant in Pilbara, which was designed to handle wastewater from the city of Perth and its suburbs.
The plant is owned by the Western Australian Government, which is responsible for water supplies in the state.
However, a water shortage caused by the water shortages in the Perth area has led to a number of problems with the system.
Earlier this month, an emergency spill at another plant in the area caused the water to spill onto the streets of Pilbara.
Authorities said at the time that it had “not been fully determined” if the water was a human or environmental source.
