A petition calling for Noosa Council to take “practical action to stop its own stormwater runoff eroding and contaminating local dunes, beaches and waterways“ has reached 1600 signatories since its launch.
Eastern Beaches Protection Association Inc (EBPAI) spokesperson Minna Knight said the growing number of people signing the group’s petition proved there was growing concern the Coastal Hazards Adaptation Plan (CHAP) would only impose more red tape, but fail to fix immediate problems along the coastline.
“More and more people are joining our fight to have Council acknowledge and fix environmental issues in its own backyard first and foremost, instead of forcing tokenistic restrictions on local homeowners,” Ms Knight said.
Noosa Council say they actively managed the coastal dune areas along the Eastern Beaches, however, sewage wastewater run-off is handled by Unitywater.
“Unitywater was established in 2010 and directly manages any issues regarding treated effluent,” Environmental Services Manager Craig Doolan said.
Mr Doolan said Council worked closely with local community groups to improve the foredunes in the area.
“We have provided $225,000 over three years to local community groups to revegetate the dunes and complete other work,” he said.
Mr Doolan said Council was about to embark on a new management plan for public foredunes for the whole of the Eastern Beaches.
“This will be a collaborative program bringing together a range of community groups over the next six months to look at ways to better manage and protect the coastal dunes,” he said.
Ms Knight said the issues with wastewater runoff were well known and fixing it was something Council could do right now to help protect and defend our beaches and waterways.
“It has been a key point of discussion at the Council’s Roundtable meetings, where we continue to seek sensible changes to the CHAP which will protect our precious environment but won’t hurt residents and ratepayers,“ she said.
“We believe practical and proportionate action is needed to tackle the impact of climate change in our community, and that proper erosion control measures are the best way to protect our beaches right now – not more red tape that does nothing to prevent damage to our local environment.”
Six separate community groups, including the Noosa North Shore Association, Peregian Family and Friends, and Noosaville and Noosa Sound Residents have joined with EBPAI to demand immediate practical action to fix beach and waterway erosion.
The petition can be found online at Change.org
