75% of sewer blockages involve wet wipes More ways to help To flush or not to flush? Report pollution NSW Environment Line 131 555 When toilet paper is in short supply, it’s tempting to use wet wipes. But did you Dispose of chemicals safely know: 75% of sewer blockages involve Household Chemical Cleanout: flushed wet wipes?* www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/cleanout A blocked sewer can mean an expensive plumbing bill. Become a volunteer It can also cause sewage overflows into homes, gardens, parks and creeks. www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/envirovolunteers Research shows 1 in 4 people are flushing wet wipes What would you like to know? and 72% of those think it’s safe. But it’s not safe and it’s We’d love to hear your ideas for our next not good for the environment. Waterways Snapshot. Only toilet paper breaks down sufficiently for our Email Council’s Healthy Waterways Team: health sewerage system. While other products such as wipes, [email protected] tissues and paper towels may initially flush away, they snapshot cause problems further down the system. During monitoring, we often discover sewage Inside… 2O2O overflows into our creeks and that’s bad news for our waterways. n Recovery after fire n To help keep our creeks free of sewage, only flush Locked Bag 1005 the Watercity within for wildlife – How you can help 2 Civic Place www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au n human waste and toilet paper down your toilet. Katoomba NSW 2780 a WorldWhy is groundwater Heritage essential? T 02 4780 5000 n PRINTED ON 100% RECYCLED PAPER To flush or not to flush? IMAGE: Christopher Indyka Report sewage leaks to Sydney Water on 13 20 90. CARBON NEUTRAL PRINTING E [email protected] National Park *Source: www.sydneywatertalk.com.au/wet-wipes CREDITED IMAGES Boy in creek: Ona Janzen | Glenbrook Lagoon: Ian Brown Wentworth Falls: Murray Fredericks | Frog: Lucy Kidson PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER How healthy Recovery after fires are our waterways? and floods Council regularly monitors our local waterways to check Since the summer fires, we’ve been closely monitoring ecological health and recreational water quality. all fire-affected waterways because bushfires can Here’s a snapshot of our results. For more details visit: seriously impact water quality. Ash and soil can be www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/waterquality washed into waterways, causing dramatic increases in nutrients and reductions in oxygen levels. The good news? So far, Blue Mountains’ creeks appear to be quite resilient. In fact, the impacts found aren’t Ecological health results as bad as seen elsewhere in NSW. IMAGE: mlp Photography Unfortunately, the February floods hit some of our We rate the ecological health of Fresh water helps local wildlife and also waterways hard—particularly those receiving urban each waterway as either excellent, attracts delightful visitors to your garden! stormwater flows. Further monitoring will continue to good, fair, or poor, using waterbugs provide vital data to track the recovery and condition of as indicators of creek health. our creeks while pinpointing any problem areas. Water for wildlife – % Waterways in good 51 EXCELLENT GOOD how you can help to excellent health You can help recovery by keeping POOR While we received some good rains after the fires, last Waterways in fair pollutants out of stormwater drains % FAIR summer was one of the hottest and driest on record. 49 to poor health and installing a rainwater tank. As climate change brings more extreme heat, severe droughts and catastrophic bushfires, many people Recreational water quality want to know how to help our wildlife. In summer, we test bacterial contamination weekly. One of the best things you can do is provide clean, fresh water. Wentworth Falls Lake, Jellybean Pool This sediment trap at Suitable for swimming most of the time. Katoomba Falls caught n Change the water daily and clean the container Generally good microbial water quality. over 120 tonnes of regularly to prevent disease. sediment from urban Glenbrook Lagoon, Megalong Creek, runoff after the n Use shallow bowls to prevent drowning Minnehaha Falls February floods. (a real risk for animals, frogs and reptiles). Not always suitable for swimming. Insert a stable, clean rock to create a safe exit. Susceptible to fecal pollution. n Keep water out of reach of dogs, cats and children. At all sites, avoid swimming during and up n WIRES has more tips: wires.org.au to three days after rain, or if there are signs Our creeks are a vital natural water source for our of pollution in the water. Also consider precious wildlife. To help keep our waterways clean and other risks such as water depth, clear, never allow detergents, pesticides, sediment, temperature and submerged hazards. chemicals, paint or fertilisers to enter stormwater drains. IMAGE: Christopher Indyka ● Excellent health These ratings are based on the types of l waterbugs found at each site. Waterbugs Good health are widely used indicators of ecological l Fair health creek health. A rich variety of sensitive Ecological waterway health l Poor health waterbugs (such as mayflies and crayfish) indicates a healthy waterway. in the City of Blue Mountains Colo Catchment Glenbrook Catchment Kedumba Catchment ●1 Waterfall Creek ●17 Magdala Creek ●38 Kedumba Creek ●18 Glenbrook Creek ●39 Leura Falls Creek Coxs Catchment ●19 Glenbrook Creek ●40 Gordon Creek 20 41 ●2 Fairy Dell Creek ● Glenbrook Creek tributary ● Lillians Glen 21 42 ●3 Centennial Glen Creek ● Florabella Pass Creek ● Jamison Creek ●4 ●43 Kedumba River CCOLO Megalong Creek Grose Catchment 44 ●5 Megalong Creek tributary ● Wentworth Falls Lake ●6 Pulpit Hill Creek ●22 Grose River tributary Nepean Catchment ●7 Pulpit Hill Creek tributary ●23 Hat Hill Creek ●8 Back Creek ●24 Popes Glen Creek ●45 Fitzgerald Creek ●25 Bridal Veil Creek/ ●46 Long Angle Creek Erskine Catchment Govetts Leap Brook ●47 Blue Gum Swamp Creek 26 ● Yosemite Creek 48 ●9 Bedford Creek ● Frasers Creek 27 ● Katoomba Creek 49 ●10 Terrace Falls Creek ● Frasers Creek tributary 28 ● Govetts Creek 50 ●11 Lawson Creek ● Cripple Creek 29 ● Wentworth Creek 51 ●12 Cataract Creek ● Strathdon Creek 30 ● Water Nymphs Dell 52 ●13 Red Gum Park ● Lapstone Creek 31 ● Dantes Glen 53 ●14 Bedford Creek tributary ● Knapsack Creek ●32 Hazelbrook Creek 15 ●54 Glenbrook Lagoon GROSE N ● Wilsons Glen Creek ●33 Woodford Creek ●16 Erskine Creek ●34 E Linden Creek tributary ●35 Springwood Creek P ●36 Bulls Creek EAN ●37 Adams Creek GLENBROOK KEDUMBA ERSKINE Hidden depths: the value of groundwater Even during severe drought, most of our creeks still have water. That’s thanks to one of our most COXS precious resources—groundwater. Groundwater is underground water found in cracks IMAGE: Gillian Fitzgerald and spaces in soil, sand and rock. It’s stored in Groundwater is finite. It replenishes at a geological formations called aquifers. snail’s pace and extraction can have serious Groundwater provides constant water flows for consequences. Even a single bore in the wrong many of our streams and waterfalls, such as Ingar location can destroy a creek or dry out a swamp. falls (right). Our unique local ecosystems, such as How you can help… Blue Mountains Swamps, depend on groundwater. Install a rainwater tank to water your garden and So do rare and endangered species like the Blue choose water-savvy native plants. Mountains Water Skink and the Dwarf Mountain Pine. These species are only found here in the Blue Choose tap water over bottled “spring” water Mountains. (which is extracted groundwater)..