Birchip Landcare Group

Project Profile

Issues

The Birchip Landcare Group’s Urban Stormwater Treatment Project has reinvigorated local sporting and school facilities and provided safe refuge to a variety of birds and wildlife in the area.

Project Detail

Birchip Landcare Group (BLG) has been nominated for a National Landcare Award for its work improving the town’s stormwater system and storage through the Birchip Urban Stormwater Treatment Project.

Building on a community project that started 15 years ago, the new works improved the efficiency of the original system and began treating the water through self-sustaining and natural methods for re-use. The collected stormwater is now treated by directing it through rubbish collectors, silt traps, wetlands and a network of settling dams and ponds.

Three new wetlands were created along the town’s existing stormwater drainage and storage network and additional work was carried out to improve the flow, water quality and the system’s environmental values. Works by the Group included installation of concrete headwalls, bulk rubbish traps, and the placing of crushed rock and spool to reduce rubbish and silt from stormwater flows.

Thousands of wetland plants and grasses have been planted to further filter the water and remove nutrients. Silt traps and ponds have been created, and in some cases, modified, to make them more efficient.

The Birchip Urban Stormwater Treatment Project has also had an unexpected but welcomed benefit to the local sporting community as it has provided water to the town’s football, cricket, hockey, golf club and lawn tennis facilities. The new system has allowed sporting activity to continue locally, as it was threatened to be moved elsewhere or halted due to the lack of water. Another major beneficiary from the project has been the Birchip P – 12 school, as the grounds were suffering through the drought.

With the creation of numerous silt ponds and wetlands through the stormwater system, birds, amphibians and a range of wildlife are now provided with refuge and a water source.

The project united the community and provided an opportunity for a wide range of people to become involved including local school children, Lions Club members and sporting groups.

Through the Birchip Urban Stormwater Treatment Project, the BLG has provided a healthier ecosystem and sustainable sporting facilities which has resulted in a happier local community.

The Birchip Landcare Group project is one of 88 finalists in the National Landcare Awards to be announced in Canberra on 24 June 2010. Commencing in 1991, the Awards celebrate the achievements of individuals and groups that make a valuable contribution to the land and coast where they live and work.

Photography

Birchip wetland