MBCL
SUBMISSION TO SOUTH EAST NON-URBAN STUDY
PROJECT
STEERING COMMITTEE
DATE: 25 November 1996
TO: Mr Doug Moore, Project Manager, South
East Non-Urban Study (SENUS), Cnr Davey & Young Street, PO Box 490,
Frankston 3199 VIC.
Dear Sir,
We applaud the foresight of the Hamer
Government when in 1970 it created five green wedges around Melbourne to
provide ‘green lungs’ for the city. We support the retention of the South East
Non-Urban study area, one of the ‘green lungs’, in its present non-urban
zoning. We note that the Panel also inquiring into RL166 concluded that:
"the Panel unanimously decided in favour
of recommending the retention of the Keysborough Green Wedge in its present
non-urban zoning"
MBCL is concerned therefore at proposals for
residential development in the Green Wedge before the consultants report is
finalised especially as the proposed development will impact adversely on areas
of the Mordialloc Creek catchment which Melbourne Water recommends should
revert to their former status as wetlands. The areas referred to are 8, 9, 10,
11, 14, 15, 16, 17 on the map provided.
The future of wetlands is very often
determined when decisions are made about land use and development. Adjacent
land use can have detrimental effects on the health of wetlands. These include:
- increasing nutrients, turbidity and changing chemical composition
of water
- physical intrusion (e.g. power-lines in bird flight paths)
- removal or changes in native vegetation and habitat for native
animals and
- noise which may scare water birds
THE IMPORTANCE OF WETLANDS
Historically wetlands have been undervalued
and seen as wasteland to be filled and drained. They have been taken over or
replaced by pasture, farmland and water storage, for housing and industrial
estates. However, wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems on earth
because they excel in purifying water. Healthy functioning wetlands provide
many agricultural, social and economic benefits to land owners and the wider
community. These benefits include:
- provide habitat for native plants and animals
- provide refuges for rare and threatened species
- assimilate and recycle nutrients
- trap sediments
- function as flood basins
- provide hydrological stability to catchments (groundwater and
surface water)
- are valuable recreation resources
- provide landscape values
- are sites of cultural, scientific and educational significance and
contribute economic values
The importance of developing a series of
wetlands along the Mordialloc Main Drain in the areas designated is essential
if beaches in the City of Kingston are to retain (and possibly increase) as a
tourist attraction.
Reports by the CSJRO, the EPA and the Port
Phillip Regional Catchment Strategy committee all indicate that Mordialloc
Creek and the drains flowing into the creek and Patterson River, carry
excessive nutrient and sediment loads into the Bay especially after heavy rain
when people are advised by the EPA not to swim near the many drains for two to
three days after rain. Wetlands can act as a filter and purify drainage water
before it enters the creek and Bay.
The use of wetlands for this purpose are
being extensively used in America and Britain where reed beds (Phragmites
australis) treat domestic and concentrated industrial and agricultural
effluents (1). In the Onkaparinga estuary, South Australia, there are plans to
develop wetlands as a stormwater treatment facility within existing catchments
which are valued local environments (2).
Land in the study area adjoining Mordialloc
Main Drain should not be used for residential development, especially as there
is: "land supply around for 20 years growth in the south-east area within
the existing designated urban areas". There needs to be a more
comprehensive analysis of long term requirements and options in the south east
before contemplating major new land releases in the study area.
Instead a series of wetlands along the Main
Drain as advocated by the former DVA, should be implemented. A wetland complex
in this area would provide a variety of functions, uses and benefits such as
the following:
- Stormwater retardation - offering cost savings for both upstream
and downstream drainage works.
- Conservation - adding refurbished wildlife habitat for a wide
variety and number of water-birds.
- Water quality - promoting improvements in water quality for the
Mordialloc Creek and Bay.
- Education - providing facilities for formal education programmes
and access for higher education research and wildlife management, and
community based groups.
- Recreation - the wetlands will function as an important node in a
regional open space network for local community use and as a tourist
destination principally for bird and wildlife observation.
- Landscape value - as a significant open space within an urban
environment, wetlands have an important local role to play in the
preservation of scenic values (3).
From a community perspective, protection of
potential wetlands from inappropriate development will have positive social and
economic benefits. The protection and enhancement of wetlands will ensure the
retention of a valuable recreational, scientific, aesthetic and environmental
resource to benefit all Victorians.
AUTHOR: M. Rimington, MBCL.
END-NOTES
(1) New Scientist (1991) March.
(2) National Local Government Engineering
Conference (1993) Adelaide, August.
(3) Trees and Natural Resources (1990)
Vol. 32, No. 4, Dec.