News

Georges Riverkeeper is proud to announce its selection as a Finalist in the Keep Australia Beautiful NSW (KAB NSW) 2023 Sustainable Cities Awards.

Georges Riverkeeper has been recognised in the Litter Prevention / Clean Waterways category, sponsored by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) for the Zero Litter in Georges River project.

Mark Your Calendars! The franc-sydney 2024 conference is coming your way, bringing together Future-focused, Resilient, Adaptive, and Networked communities!

Powered by StormwaterNSW and proudly supported by Georges Riverkeeper, the event will take place at the Commbank Stadium, Sydney on April 17 and 18, 2024. The theme? "Charting the Future from Past Lessons".

Thanks to our fruitful partnership with NSW Corrective Services and the support from our dedicated member councils, we're making impressive strides in litter collection across the Georges River catchment. In the current financial year alone, we've already collected over 800 bags of litter!

Weeds cost the environment dearly as they outcompete native biodiversity. It is important to tackle expanding weeds early before they get a foothold in the environment and cannot be contained. Councils in the Georges River catchment are committed to tackling emerging weeds before they become problematic. Recently Georges Riverkeeper assisted City of Canterbury Banskstown and Georges River Council’s Biosecurity Officers in searching for the priority weed, boneseed (Chrysanthemoides monilifera subsp. monilifera) along the foreshores of the middle estuary.

Georges Riverkeeper conducts AUSMAP sampling along the Georges River foreshore annually to see what areas are the most contaminated with microplastics. What is AUSMAP? It's a national citizen science project called the Australian Microplastic Assessment Project which seeks to create a database of microplastic pollution along waterways.

In our most recent AUSMAP sampling expedition, we surveyed ten sites along the Georges River, from Simmos Beach in the upper catchment to Towra Point in Botany Bay. The results of our efforts were both reassuring and eye-opening.

The Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis), a critically endangered migratory shorebird, has begun its annual return to Botany Bay, gracing us with its presence once again. In August 2023, we recorded the sighting of 42 of these incredible birds during our monthly count with The Australasian Wader Studies Group (AWSG) which is a special interest group of BirdLife Australia.

NSW builders are ‘getting the site right’ with more than half successfully implementing erosion and sediment controls to protect local environments, but councils and regulators still had to hand out $376,789 in fines in May.

Twenty-two councils across Greater Sydney and regional NSW joined forces for the latest campaign with support from NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and Department of Planning and Environment (DPE).

Program updates were well received as was the presentation by Farid Shahbazi Dashti and Rob Stevenson about Fairfield City Council’s Gross Pollutant Trap Audit at the August 17 Georges Riverkeeper Committee Meeting hosted by Fairfield City Council. Discussions during the meeting also included topics such as shorebird protection, synthetic field microplastics, new litter collection sites for Corrective Service NSW teams, the desire for Bushcare updates from Councils, and how to attract further community participation in the committee.

Georges Riverkeeper in collaboration with students from St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Georges Hall and artist Corey Nichols, aka Born Ready Artist, has unveiled striking footpath artworks at locations in Garrison Point, Lake Gillawarna, and outside St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Georges Hall. These thought-provoking creations aim to raise awareness about plastic pollution in our rivers and creeks while encouraging responsible litter disposal practices.