Central Coast Council, in partnership with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), the NSW Government Department of Planning and Environment (NSW DPE) and the local community, is a finalist in one of Australia’s most comprehensive national science awards.
The Eureka Awards honour excellence across the areas of research and innovation, leadership, science engagement and school science.
Council is nominated as one of three finalists in the Applied Environmental Research category, in recognition of water contamination research developments and improving beach water quality.
Together with its partners, Council’s Water and Sewer, Environmental Management and Roads and Drainage teams have been working to improve water quality at Terrigal beach and coastal lagoons.
Commencing in 2019, the collaboration worked to diagnose and rectify poor water quality issues after the NSW DPE Beachwatch Program revealed that the water quality at several NSW beaches was consistently poor with unclear causes.
A comprehensive environmental sampling program was implemented by Council, NSW DPE and UTS, with scientists applying cutting-edge molecular microbiological and DNA sequencing approaches to precisely define the causes and sources of contamination, which subsequently guided Council’s water quality and infrastructure management efforts.
Council’s Director Water and Sewer, Jamie Loader, said once the team identified the sources of beach pollution, Council could focus on sewer remediation.
“The team demonstrated that sewage overflow into a specific stormwater drain had the biggest impact on water quality,” he said.
“We inspected 115km of sewer mains and identified one third of these as in need of repair.
“We’ve since remediated 41km, which is 95 per cent of this problem sewerage infrastructure.”
Loader said that since the remediation works, Terrigal Beach has received two Good ratings in the Beachwatch Program after a decade of Poor results.
“This is a direct indication of improved water quality,” he said.
“As work continues, the improvements have already been widely appreciated by the local community, with implications for water quality initiatives both nationally and internationally.”
Council Administrator Rik Hart said leading the partnership and community collaboration in the remediation phase of the project demonstrated Council’s dedication to improving water and sewer essential services, and placing customers at the centre of everything Council does.
“The national recognition of Council’s work with industry leaders is fantastic, and an appreciated bonus to our partnership work,” he said.
The Applied Environmental Research award will be announced on Wednesday, August 23.
To learn more about the project and community consultation and for an interactive map showing where remediation has occurred, search Terrigal and coastal lagoons audit at yourvoiceourcoast.com/tcla
Source:
Central Coast Council