Options for diverting stormwater from Torquay’s Karaaf Wetlands will soon be explored to improve its health and quality.
The Karaaf Wetlands Program’s stormwater diversion project was accepted by seven councillors and opposed by one during Surf Coast Shire council’s Tuesday, May 28, meeting.
Councillor Mike Bodsworth said the report identified options to help reduce the volume of pollutants and divert stormwater from the wetland.
“This is one of the most positive things that we’ve done in our term as a council, but it didn’t really start out that way,” he said.
“We’re a little bit slow to catch onto the impacts of excess fresh water and the quality of that stormwater into the Karaaf Wetland system.
“I hope going forward that the wider community can be engaged through some environmental interpretation and education activities, particularly as the effects of the actions become clear.”
Cr Rose Hodge said council had invested $650,000 in the Karaaf program of projects since 2021, with $100,000 allocated in the 2024-25 budget for the next phase of delivery and funding.
“We’re putting in over $600,000 to rectify this and we’ve even got some more money in our draft budget now,” she said.
“We’ll be able to really look forward to doing something a lot quicker and better with the expertise we’ve had behind the scenes.
“With this money we can look forward to diverting more water away (from the Karaaf), with Barwon Water helping us out as well, and hopefully it can go back to pristine position that it was.”
