2016-06-07 - Planning & Environment Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                      7 JUNE 2016




                           Map 1. The Noosa Parklands Park System

One particular issue that has been raised is that the Heritage Park lagoon is currently infested
with the waterweed Salvinia molesta. This waterweed is a Class 2 declared weed and was
probably introduced into the lagoon from the emptying of a fish tank. Council has attempted to
remove the weed in the past without success. In consultation with Noosa and District Landcare, it
is unlikely that the weed will ever be eradicated. A maintenance programme to keep the weed
‘down’ would cost $5,000 per annum ongoing and would not eradicate the weed. There is no
evidence the waterweed is dispersing along the waterway, and there is also risk of translocating
the weed to other areas from netting and disposal. A maintenance programme may improve the
visual appearance of the lagoon for short periods, but will have questionable environmental
benefits. It is a recommendation of the Plan that the Salvinia be left to natural processes and not
be interfered with.

2.   Natural hazards

The Noosa Local Disaster Management Plan 2015-2016 identifies fire and flood as being
Noosa’s highest natural hazard risk areas.

Wooroi Creek flows through Noosa Parklands, and like other creeks in Noosa Shire, floods
during peak rain events. There has been some local flooding of roads (pers. comm. with local
resident). It has been the practice for Council to clean out natural debris collecting next to
boardwalks within the waterway as a measure to mitigate flooding at a cost of $4,000 per annum.
Hydrology and Water Management Consultants have assessed the effectiveness of this practice
and provided advice.

Because the boardwalks occur in the flood plain, flood waters simply overtop the debris or flow
around the obstruction. Therefore the practice of removing debris from the waterway is ineffective
for flood mitigation purposes and is more of amenity issue.

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