New pollution trap and drain art help stop river rubbish

Georges Riverkeeper has partnered with Campbelltown City Council to help stop litter pollution from being washed into the Georges River from stormwater runoff, thanks to the installation of a new pollution trap and an innovative partnership with students from Sarah Redfern Public School in Minto, as part of a project funded by the Australian Government.

As one of six schools participating in Georges Riverkeeper’s Zero Litter in Georges River project, Sarah Redfern Public School was the recipient of a series of lessons from professional environmental educators, aligned to the NSW curriculum, about stormwater pollution, which encouraged students to look for solutions to reduce litter flowing to the Georges River.

Students created designs for artworks to be painted on local footpaths near storm drains, and the students star in the campaign videos, helping to teach their community.

Georges Riverkeeper Program Manager Scott Reyes said, “Most of the pollution in the Georges River flows there through a network of connected stormwater pits and pipes, so we need to stop waste, litter and pollution from ending up in street and carpark gutters and drains.”

“It’s great to see enthusiastic youngsters taking a keen interest in learning more about their local environment and helping to play their part in protecting the Georges River,” Reyes said.

The street art developed for the campaign which can be seen outside Sarah Redfern Public School and in Redfern Park features the innovative use of Augmented Reality technology which allows passers-by to scan a QR code to interact with a virtual long-neck turtle called ‘Zero’, one of the native animals found in the river that is threatened by pollution.

‘Zero Litter in Georges River’ lessons were developed in collaboration with Georges River Environment Education Centre are available for any school to access for free via a google site.

Mayor of Campbelltown George Greiss said: “These fantastic artworks will help raise awareness in our community around the importance of protecting our local waterways.”

As part of the grant-funded project, Council has also installed a specialised Gross Pollutant Trap at Kooringa Reserve to collect large pollutants such as litter from the stormwater runoff channel, preventing them from entering the nearby natural wetland, Bow Bowing canal and Georges River.

Cr Griess said: “The new trap will help to prevent pollution from entering our sensitive environmental areas, protecting important local flora and fauna.

“Council has a number of similar traps across the LGA however Kooringa Reserve is an important location, taking in several large suburbs and feeding into areas such as the Bow Bowing Canal and Georges River.”

The trap features an instream grate and offline basket at the site to collect large pollutants from the concrete channel that is the receptacle for stormwater runoff from the Raby and St Andrews area.

To find out more about the project and lessons go to zerolitter.georgesriver.org.au

This project received funding from the Australian Government.