Council seeks funds to protect weir as high tides on way

Friday 1 December 2017

Council has applied for funding to begin investigating what it can do to protect Bray Park Weir pool from being contaminated with salt water due to overtopping as it gears up for another run of high tides from Sunday onwards.

“We have applied for funds under the NSW Government’s Safe and Secure Water Program to develop the scope of our proposed Bray Park Weir Tidal Protection Project while at the same time getting ready for a run of high tides that are predicted to again overtop the weir wall,” Manager Water and Wastewater Anthony Burnham said.

“We’re also calling for nominations from the community to join a Project Reference Group to help us identify and assess what options we have to protect the weir pool. We would particularly like nominations from landowners with properties fronting the river and business owners who rely on a high-quality water product.”

The final membership of the Project Reference Group will be decided by Council next year.

To nominate for the Project Reference Group, register online at http://www.yoursaytweed.com.au/BrayParkWeir.

Meanwhile, Council will have staff on call this weekend and early next week to monitor the effects of the high tides and respond if needed.

“Thankfully we currently have strong flows from the upper catchments due to the recent run of wet weather which will help hold back the high tides so we will only need to sandbag the wall if these flows drop significantly,” Mr Burnham said.

Council also was sampling the river water downstream to determine what levels of salt were present and what concentrations could be expected if the weir wall does overtop next week.

“Salt water concentrations measured at Murwillumbah’s Commercial Road Boat Ramp on Thursday were very low so any overtopping of the weir is unlikely to adversely affect our water supply.

“Nevertheless, we will have staff monitoring the tides closely and standing by to act to prevent salt getting into the shire’s drinking water supplies.”