EPA monitors marine and freshwater quality at locations across Victoria. 

Marine water monitoring and Beach Report

The marine monitoring program aims to:

• assess water quality  
• identify and investigate risks, like pollution
• protect and improve water quality.

We monitor marine water quality through:

• fixed sites – data is summarised in the annual Report Card

• Beach Report, which checks water quality at our beaches 
• daily water monitoring on board the Spirit of Tasmania 
• responding to pollution reports
• marine research. 

Beach Report and swimming

We urge you to check the Beach Report before swimming.

You can also sign up for a free SMS service. You’ll get a text when the water at a beach near you is forecast to have poor quality.

Water quality forecasts are also on our Twitter feed. Follow @EPA_Victoria.

Freshwater monitoring and Yarra Watch

The freshwater monitoring program aims to:

• identify and characterise risks from emerging contaminants
• protect and improve water quality.

We monitor freshwater quality through:

• our emerging contaminants program
• Yarra Watch, which checks water quality at four swimming sites
• responding to pollution events
• freshwater research.

Yarra Watch

EPA will partner with Melbourne Water to forecast water quality at four spots along the Yarra River. These are:

• Healesville
• Kew 
• Launching Place
• Warrandyte. 

These forecasts are available on Yarra Watch.

Report Card

Report Card provides a snapshot of water quality in Port Phillip Bay, Western Port, the Gippsland Lakes and the waterways in their catchments.

You can read the 2019-20 Report Card (publication 1923) and 2018-19 Report Card (publication 1857). Contact us for Report Cards previous to those years.