Painters use lagoon as a literal canvas
Painters caught red-handed dumping paint into Toti Lagoon.
A Toti resident has photographed painters dumping paint into Toti Lagoon.
The resident, who did not wish to be named, took the photos from his residence on Tuesday afternoon, 23 July. The painter photographed was wearing overalls with the company name ‘Turbocoat’ on the back, either washing a paint roller or emptying out paint residue directly into the lagoon. A large paint spill can be clearly seen spreading through the water.
On Friday afternoon, 26 July a painter from a different company was photographed dumping paint residue down a drain at L’Escalier Cabanas in Beach Road. The residue can be seen flowing into the lagoon. The painter was wearing overalls with the company name ‘P Gounden and Sons’ on the back.
“I have discovered two companies are responsible,” said the resident. “One company has a container at L’Escalier Cabanas and are painting the block. I think someone needs to take responsibility for these actions and educate their staff. The lagoon now has a lot more birdlife and dumping paint into it doesn’t make sense.”
The Sun forwarded the photos to L’Escalier Cabanas’ body corporate and P Gounden and Sons. “We followed up the washing and throwing paint into the sewer system at L’Escalier Cabanas by P Gounden and Sons’ painters,” said trustee, Franken Stassen.
“The painters are using a PVA water-based paint. The drain in the refuse bin area where he is photographed dumping the paint, flows into the municipal sewer system and not the stormwater system that flows into the lagoon. I don’t know where they could have dumped paint into the stormwater system for it to flow into the lagoon. The person washing the paint brush at the lagoon could possibly have been painting the canoe club building. He was definitely not working on our project.”
The owner of Turbocoat, Mark Pontes said none of his painters were working in the area and the painter was not employed by his company.
Gerald Gounden of P Gounden and Sons said they have stopped their painters from dumping the water they use to clean their brushes into the sewer system. “We are meeting with an environmental group on Wednesday, 30 July to look at other more environmentally-friendly ways to dispose of the paint-water in future.”
