Lake Brearley Dredging Update

The City engaged GHD to provide a technical assessment of the dredging undertaken at Lake Brearley. GHD have provided their report to the City, and concluded the overall objectives of the program appear to have been substantially achieved, as follows:

• Completion of dredging in the identified priority area;

• More than half the available nutrients in the target area have been removed (an estimated 59% of total organic compounds, totalling approximately 17 tonnes); and

• Dredging was significantly more successful than the Lake Bungana dredging works, recovering approximately 187m3 vs 56m3 of dewatered silt.

It is anticipated the removal of nutrients via dredging will work in concert with the other long-term water quality initiatives (mechanical mixers and solar powered ultrasonic units) to progressively reduce eutrophication, algal blooms and midge populations over time. A copy of the full GHD report is available in the documents section.

The limestone from the dredging laydown pad is being reused to create paths in natural areas in the City. The first path has been completed at Maylands Samphire's recently and the remaining limestone will be removed in coming weeks to create a path in Lightning Swamp Bushland.