It's always been a bit of an unspoken rule, now this confirms what we've known all along about water quality being tainted after heavy rain in Melbourne.
This from the age website...
www.theage.com.au/environment/weather/flood-of-raw-sewage-causing-a-right-stink-20110412-1dbhp.html
Flood of raw sewage causing a right stink
Thomas Hunter
April 12, 2011
Melbourne's stormwater drains were flooded with raw sewage for the third time in two months last night when parts of the city's drainage system were overwhelmed by torrential rain, sparking outrage among environmentalists.
Melbourne Water today revealed that untreated effluent was pumped into Merri Creek at Coburg, Moonee Ponds Creek at Pascoe Vale and Gardiners Creek at Ashwood in a bid to keep the fouled water from flowing back into people's homes.
Last night's release followed similar mass dumpings on February 5 and March 13, when Melbourne Water
pumped unknown quantities of sewage into the Yarra River, Maribyrnong River, Merri Creek, and Moonee Ponds Creek, with drains in Elwood, Brighton and Hampton also carrying fouled water into the bay.
The flooded underpass at Mount Waverley station. Photo: Gauthier Delmee
A Melbourne Water spokesman said the sewage that could have threatened homes was "extremely diluted" because it was mixed with stormwater, and when it flowed into rivers it was further diluted.
But the release has angered the Clean Ocean Foundation, which claimed that "millions of litres of raw sewage have now been pumped into Port Phillip" in the past two months.
"I call events like these crisis events. They are events when the system basically fails," the Foundation's campaign director James Clark-Kennedy said.
Flooded Gardiners Creek at Glen Iris. Photo: Albert Sebastian
"The line 'but it's extremely diluted' is wearing thin. Big questions need to be asked about Melbourne's capacity to deal with rain and sewage at the same time," he said.
"How long has this been going on and how often has it happened?"
Mr Clark-Kennedy said the sewage pumped into creeks last night posed a threat to bay users over the coming days, who would not be warned about dangerous enterococci levels because the EPA's beach monitoring program had been shut down until next summer.
"There are people, like kite surfers, who use those beaches year-round. They will be fully immersed in the water. Yet the EPA, the so-called watchdog, doesn't tell them about these events or the quality of the water they are swimming in."
EPA Victoria have been contacted for comment but are yet to respond.
In February, The Age reported that 195mm of rain had overwhelmed major sewage treatment plants, forcing Melbourne Water to dump untreated waste through emergency sewer exits around the city.
Sewers carry waste water from home and commercial premises, which includes toilet waste, bathwater and industrial discharges. Those are separate to the drainage system that carries stormwater run-off.
In short, if there has been moderate - heavy rain, give it a couple of days, or head as far away from metro melbourne as you can, there are lots and lots of other very kite-able spots not too far away :)
Also avoid getting in the (dirty) water with open cuts where possible... cheers
what an awesome place to live - with your tip top weather, ease of getting around, cheap housing and lots of friendly multiculturalism. Oh and then there's the theatre and the football.
I would have thought sewerage would actually make the yarra cleaner?
They drink so much good coffee in Melbourne, everyone probably fires out liquid poos anyway, so you wouldn't even notice the sewerage?
Hey Nebbian, we Melburnians are just happy to be talked about, pedantry or no
And anything short of uranium tailings would probably make the poor ole Yarra cleaner 
If this city keeps growing we'll either need some massive infrastructure investment, or we'll have to get used to being awash with our own sh!t. Some hard decisions coming up methinks.
Made the mistake of shaving prior to a session a little while back when the bay had contamination. Result - bacterial infection in one of the hair follicles that end up in a boil. No antibiotics but took about 6 weeks to disappear.
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