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Canberra Today 12°/16° | Saturday, March 30, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Wetlands for Yarralumla Creek

simon corbell

SIMON Corbell says options to improve water quality in the Yarralumla Creek catchment could include wetlands to help clean suburban runoff.

“Wetlands are just one of the options for the catchment revealed today as being considered as part of the joint Commonwealth and ACT Government funded $93.5 million ACT Basin Priority Project,” Simon said.

“Wetlands are one of the options we are investigating for cleaning the Yarralumla catchment, which runs through Woden and includes the Woden town centre and Phillip light industrial precinct.

“This is an important catchment because it is highly urbanised with a lot of concrete stormwater channels where water churns along at high velocity during storms, creating a safety issue as much as a water pollution issue.

“There is about five times as much runoff now than before Woden was developed, and it has high sediment and nutrient loads and causes erosion, particularly where it enters the Molonglo River.

“The ACT Basin Priority Project offers the opportunity to better manage the safety risk as well as cleaning the water, creating a buffer against climate change by establishing irrigation networks for playing fields and other public areas, and repairing and naturalising the channel where it enters the Molonglo River.”

Other options for the Yarralumla catchment include, stream restoration, channel naturalisation, installation or retrofit of gross pollutant traps and stormwater harvesting and reuse for fit-for-purpose irrigation. A full list of options can be seen at environment.act.gov.au

Consultation on options at all six priority catchments – Lake Tuggeranong, Yarralumla Creek, Upper Molonglo, Lower Molonglo, Fyshwick and West Belconnen – begins on 28 July. See more at environment.act.gov.au

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