Blue Mountains City Council wins environment award

Blue Mountains City Council was awarded Overall Winner in the Natural Environment Protection and Enhancement: On-Ground Works category at the Local Government NSW (LGNSW) Excellence in the Environment Awards on Tuesday 3 December.

Council was recognised for the Jamison Catchment Streets to Creeks project. The project worked to protect Wentworth Falls Lake and Jamison Creek from stormwater pollution and other threats posed by urban runoff. It also improved the health of swamps and waterways in Wentworth Falls as well as downstream in the World Heritage Area, and drinking water supplies. 

Blue Mountains Mayor Mark Greenhill praised the award and the staff at Council who worked on the project.

“The vulnerability of Jamison Creek to stormwater impacts was highlighted when a stormwater-borne pesticide killed over a thousand of the creek’s freshwater crayfish, literally overnight,” Mayor Greenhill said.

“In response to this tragedy, several Council departments came together to respond to that situation and then work to ensure it never happened again. It is a testament to their passion, determination and ingenuity, and it makes me very proud to be the Mayor of this Council and its staff.

“As one of only two cities in the world located within a World Heritage National Park, our environment is unique and its importance can never be understated or taken for granted. This award confirms what I and our community already know, that Blue Mountains City Council is second to none in this arena.

“Congratulations to all the teams involved in this incredible project. Their win is well deserved.”

Council constructed 12 stormwater biofiltration systems throughout the catchment, removing pollutants such as litter, sediment, nutrients and pathogens and increasing groundwater recharge. Biofilters improve water quality by slowing, filtering and infiltrating stormwater through beds of sand and gravel planted with native sedges and shrubs.

The project involved Council’s Natural Area Management, Healthy Waterways and Civil Assets teams and employed a range of local contractors in the construction of stormwater treatment systems and the delivery of community and school events. 

Local residents, schools and Bushcare groups also contributed to the project by taking part in Waterways festivals, catchment crawls, planting and weeding days and citizen science events.

Preliminary monitoring shows the treatment systems are improving the quality of stormwater flowing to the lake and Jamison Creek, and surveys have found healthy, breeding crayfish populations that are recovering well from the 2012 pesticide incident.

The LGNSW Excellence in the Environment Awards recognise and celebrate the outstanding achievements by NSW councils in managing and protection of the environment each year.

The project is part of an ongoing program of catchment scale protection and restoration works  in partnership with Water NSW’s Streets to Creek Project and the Central Tablelands Local Land Services through the New South Wales Government’s Environmental Trust’s Swamped by Threats project.

Photo: Healthy Waterways Program Leader Geoffrey Smith (left) accepts the award on behalf of Blue Mountains City Council.