By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
THE City of Casey will look into establishing a life saving club at Lysterfield Lake, seven months after a young boy drowned there.
In a notice of motion put forward on Tuesday night, and carried unanimously by councillors, Four Oaks Ward councillor Rafal Kaplon called for the introduction of a life saving club at the lake, as well as additional signage and a complete risk assessment of the site.
There have been three reported drowning deaths at Lysterfield Lake since 1 July 2000, according to Life Saving Victoria (LSV).
In February local residents and Casey councillors made an impassioned plea for increased safety precautions at the popular swimming site, including lifesaving patrols and signage, after a five-year-old boy drowned at the lake.
In January 2013, a Cranbourne West man drowned while trying to rescue two children at the lake who had been using a dinghy.
Cr Kaplon said he understood that there used to be a live saving club at Lysterfield Lake but it was removed due to a lack of “community support”.
“Parks Victoria have said that in the past there was lifesaving service at the lake but it stopped functioning due to lack of community support, so we’re trying to establish another one,” he said.
“Life Saving Victoria is on board to facilitate the creation of a club – we’re hoping Parks Victoria get on board too.”
Cr Kaplon said in the meantime he hoped the council was successful in setting up additional signage at the site before summer.
“We’ve got about 260,000 people who use the lake every year and most of those will visit in the summer months.
“There are not many inland bodies of water where people are allowed to swim,” he said.
“Currently the signage in place is really poor, there are maybe one or two signs in place, and none of them are focused on informing people of the big drop in depth in the lake.
“What you’ll find is you have the initial decline and then it suddenly drops down further.
“There’s no patrols there whatsoever and if you go there in the summer months it’s chockers.”
Cr Kaplon’s motion also urged the City of Casey to engage all three relevant MPs to investigate safety options at the lake, including Scoresby MP Kim Wells, Gembrook MP Brad Battin and Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan.
According to LSV statistics, the majority of beaches in the state have one or two drowning deaths recorded since 1 July 2000.
