News

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.

The Georges Riverkeeper Executive Group met on the 10 November 2022. At this meeting, the following was discussed:

The Program Manager, advised that the financial audit is now complete. Georges Riverkeeper and Sutherland Shire Council have received the final copy of the Financial Audit report and Governance Letter in early November 2022.

Georges Riverkeeper reports that floods and frequent rainfall have had a profound effect on water quality in the Georges River catchment, reducing river health grades in bushland areas and improving grades in urban areas, in the recently released Georges River Report Card 2021-2022 which assesses the health of waterways in the Georges River catchment.

In the last financial year (from July 2021 to June 2022), over 47,000 kilograms of litter have been removed from the catchment during 1,364 clean ups, by people putting in over 9,657 hours in total as part of Georges Riverkeeper’s Catchment Actions Program partnership with NSW Department of Justice Corrective Services which removes litter from the catchment before it enters the river.

The Georges Riverkeeper aspirational goal, which incorporates our vision and mission, is: ‘Best practice environmental management for a liveable urban river’. The recently published Georges Riverkeeper Strategic Plan 2022-2026 offers a roadmap towards achieving this goal.

Five focus areas were identified through a stakeholder engagement process undertaken in the development of the strategy and are represented by the five Programs, which are:

The Georges Riverkeeper Executive Group met on the 13 October 2022. At this meeting, the following was discussed:

Weed control works at Prospect Creek are going very well with contractors expected to finish treating the Balloon Vine during October 2022.

The contractors have done a thorough job over the year treating this invasive, climbing weed that smothers canopy species like Casuarinas. A number of methods, including ‘skirting’ of the larger climbing plants, and scraping and painting the stems that lead to the roots, spraying a selective herbicide for ground layer weeds in areas away from the creek, and hand removing the smaller individuals, have been used to treat the weeds.

With higher-than-average rainfall predicted for Sydney and much of NSW over the next few months, developers and builders are urged to install and maintain best-practice erosion and sediment controls on their sites to prevent runoff from polluting local waterways.

Forecasts from the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology show a high chance (greater than 80%) of above median August to October rainfall for much of the eastern two-thirds of the mainland.1