North East Water

North East Water has begun investigating how an unknown quantity of carbon entered Wodonga's Jack in the Box Creek last week.

The Corporation conducted a three-hour debrief this week aimed at pinpointing the circumstances of the incident, which discoloured the waterway and sparked a large-scale clean-up of the site.

The carbon, which is used to remove taste and odour from drinking water, entered the creek during a routine cleaning operation at North East Water's raw water reservoir at Huon Hill.

Though inert and harmless to humans, the carbon caused significant discolouration to the waterway.

Operations Manager, Fiona Smith, said the debrief would form part of the ongoing investigation, which would recommend actions to ensure similar incidents did not occur in the future.

"So far, we have analysed the incident in fine detail to make sure we have the best possible understanding of what occurred," she said.

Meanwhile, North East Water has completed its immediate response to the incident, which involved cleaning the creek with excavators, rakes, shovels and brooms.

"We're now in discussions with the North East Catchment Management Authority as to the longer-term remediation of the site," Ms Smith said.

"We've also stayed in close contact with the Environment Protection Authority to ensure they're aware of the situation as it develops."