A sewage leak at one of Victoria’s most iconic tourist spots has locals worried they might be dealing with some embarrassing flow-on effects.

The Environment Protection Authority is investigating after too much waste water was recently discharged at the Twelve Apostles.

The breach is being blamed on a shortage of public toilets in the area which must service more than a million visitors a year.

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There are only 25 public toilets for the area, which makes queuing part of the holiday experience.

“We’re not even in peak time and certainly last year, with the speed of numbers, we were just at absolute full capacity,” Corangamite mayor Chris O’Connor said.

“They’ve got portables in there. The place often smells pretty badly when you get out of your car, and just the capacity is not coping.”

The recent sewage leak has left locals feeling uneasy, with fears that if the system breaks down, nearby towns will not be able to cope with the ensuing demand.

“The likes of Port Campbell wouldn’t have the capacity to cope. We would be in real trouble,” Cr O’Connor said.

Viewing the Twelve Apostles is a reward for those venturing down the windy Great Ocean Road. Photo: Shutterstock

It comes as the Twelve Apostles was named one of 10 Australian destinations to make Lonely Planet’s Ultimate Travelist.

Call to charge tourists to view the Twelve Apostles

Wayne Kayler-Thomson from the Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism Board said it has been a long-running issue and could potentially make a bigger splash.

“Once you’ve got inadequate facilities, then the experience of that is substandard and that will further deteriorate,” he said.

“With social media these days, people will start talking about the poor experience, the poor facilities that are there.

“The growth that we’ve been experiencing can be diminished, pretty quickly. So it is urgent.”

He is renewing a push to charge visitors a fee in the order of $10 to see the icon.

“The quality of the experience there has deteriorated over the years as the number of visitors increase, and we need to improve the standard of the facilities that are there as per what visitors would expect,” he said.

-ABC