Stormwater monitoring of Torquay’s Karaaf Wetlands has found positive and negative changes to the area’s vegetation.
The second year of the wetland’s environmental monitoring found a regeneration of saltmarsh shrubs in many sites, particularly in areas where dieback due to stormwater flow was less extreme.
No further dieback was observed, but more areas were identified to be impacted by stormwater, including increased brackish, freshwater vegetation and Typha grass.
Surf Coast Shire deputy mayor Libby Stapleton said the monitoring aimed to reduce the volume and impact of stormwater flow in the wetlands.
“This baseline monitoring is critical to deepening our understanding of the dynamics of the Karaaf Wetlands ecology and the historic and current impacts of stormwater flows,” she said.
“Findings will help inform our careful steps forward and measure progress, as we continue working alongside all stakeholders including Barwon Water and The Sands Estate community.”
The federal government allocated $1.9 million through the Urban Rivers and Catchments Program across three years to help improve the Karaaf’s health.
The allocation will support a stormwater diversion project to reduce stormwater flows from north Torquay to the wetlands, with a consultant engaged to start detailed designs of the project.
The construction will begin later this year and include installing a pump system from the Esplanade Wetland to an existing drainage network at the mouth of Deep Creek.
