Barwon Water continues to progress the implementation of its Boundary Creek, Big Swamp and Surrounding Environment Remediation and Environmental Protection Plan, with the plan’s first annual report submitted to Southern Rural Water.

Highlights from the report include:

• a continuing recovery trend of groundwater levels in the Lower Tertiary Aquifer
• a summary of the full seasonal data set for groundwater levels and surface water flows within Big Swamp and Boundary Creek that will be used to help refine surface and groundwater modelling for Big Swamp, which should be finished by the end of this year
• completion of Autumn macro-invertebrate sampling in Boundary Creek and the Barwon River, which follows sampling undertaken in Spring last year and shows that impacts from Big Swamp were confined to immediately downstream of Boundary Creek, and
• progressing the planning, design and approvals for installation of five stream gauges as part of the Surrounding Area Investigation.

Barwon Water Managing Director Tracey Slatter said the submission of the annual report was another important step in the long-term plan to remediate the confirmed environmental impacts from historical management of groundwater pumping of the Barwon Downs Borefield, and investigate if surrounding areas within the regional groundwater system were also adversely impacted.

“The plan represents 18-months of work by Barwon Water, its remediation working group members and technical experts, so it’s great to see it progressing and some early positive signs in our adaptive approach.”

Meanwhile, the community and stakeholder working group that provided valuable advice into the development of the remediation plan over 18-months will continue to provide oversight and feedback during its implementation.