❓ Mr Alban inquires about the Ellen Brook artificial wetlands project and its impact on Swan River water quality. The Minister details the project's aims to reduce nutrient runoff, its funding, construction progress, and related initiatives to improve river health.
AnsweredQoN 160Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
SWAN RIVER WATER QUALITY — ELLEN BROOK
ARTIFICIAL WETLANDS
160. Mr F.A. ALBAN to the
Minister for Environment:
Minister, I understand the Liberal–National
government is funding the construction of one of Western Australia's
largest artificial wetlands in the Ellen Brook. Can the minister please update
the house on how this initiative will help to improve water quality in the Swan
River?
ARTIFICIAL WETLANDS
160. Mr F.A. ALBAN to the
Minister for Environment:
Minister, I understand the Liberal–National
government is funding the construction of one of Western Australia's
largest artificial wetlands in the Ellen Brook. Can the minister please update
the house on how this initiative will help to improve water quality in the Swan
River?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Swan Hills for the question. It is a
very important issue in his electorate of Swan Hills. Given that the river runs
through the electorates of many members on both sides of the chamber and is a
key natural feature of our city, it is a very important issue for all members
in this place. I am happy to report to the house that construction has recently
started on a slightly over $4 million artificial wetland project in the
Ellenbrook region. This project is aimed at reducing the inflow of phosphorus
nitrogen run-off nutrients coming down the Ellen Brook tributary, which is one
of the main feed-in points to the Swan and Canning Rivers system. This wetland
will make a significant contribution to stripping out nutrients, which is
important because the phosphorus and nitrogen flow into the Swan River actively
feeds algal blooms. Algal blooms are an issue that many governments have had to
tackle on the river, although, fortunately, recent programs have shown
significant progress in this area. Algal blooms lead to a depletion of oxygen,
particularly in the upper reaches of the river, which leads to fish deaths. If
we can get it right at the point of nutrient inflow to the Swan and Canning
River systems and keep those nutrients out, this will prove to be a key
project. This project will remove some 270 kilograms of phosphorus and 330 kilograms
of nitrogen each year. The state government has put $2.5 million towards this
program, and the federal government has contributed about $1.5 million.
Stage 1 of the wetland will take about three months to
complete now that construction has begun. This will include the planting of up
to 50 000 native plants as well as some ripples that will assist to strip
nutrients from the Ellen Brook waterway before it flows into the Swan and
Canning River systems. Equally important—members with electorates on
the river will know this—in managing the water quality improvement of
the Swan and Canning Rivers is foreshore stabilisation. Foreshore stabilisation
is an issue that members with river-fronting electorates raise with me again
and again. This project will include 800 square metres of riverbank
stabilisation. It is designed as a compartmentalised system that allows for a
further seven wetland basins to be constructed should it prove to be as
successful as we believe that it will be. I look forward to updating the house
about that.
The Ellen Brook wetland builds on a range of programs that
the Liberal–National government has continued to invest into the Swan
and Canning River systems. The river systems have seen a steady improvement in
their health over the past five years. Clearly, some historical issues must be
dealt with, but the government's strategies are working and we are
seeing a demonstrable improvement in river health. However, the government does
not rest on its laurels and more work is to be done. We have started the Ellen
Brook wetland, and work will continue in that area. The state government
recently invested in a $1.2 million nutrient-stripping wetland in Bayswater,
which members representing that area will already be familiar with. As I
informed the house recently, work has started in the last couple of weeks on
our fifth oxygenation plant on the Swan River out at Nicholson Road Bridge. The
plant has the latest oxygenation technology and will service a further 2.2 kilometres
of the river, which, as I showed the house previously, is the area of the river
in most need of oxygen. The plant builds on the four existing plants in the
Swan and Canning River systems to help to prevent algal blooms and to preserve
aquatic life in our river system. I look forward to updating the house on
further measures the Liberal–National government will take to protect
our Swan and Canning River systems.
very important issue in his electorate of Swan Hills. Given that the river runs
through the electorates of many members on both sides of the chamber and is a
key natural feature of our city, it is a very important issue for all members
in this place. I am happy to report to the house that construction has recently
started on a slightly over $4 million artificial wetland project in the
Ellenbrook region. This project is aimed at reducing the inflow of phosphorus
nitrogen run-off nutrients coming down the Ellen Brook tributary, which is one
of the main feed-in points to the Swan and Canning Rivers system. This wetland
will make a significant contribution to stripping out nutrients, which is
important because the phosphorus and nitrogen flow into the Swan River actively
feeds algal blooms. Algal blooms are an issue that many governments have had to
tackle on the river, although, fortunately, recent programs have shown
significant progress in this area. Algal blooms lead to a depletion of oxygen,
particularly in the upper reaches of the river, which leads to fish deaths. If
we can get it right at the point of nutrient inflow to the Swan and Canning
River systems and keep those nutrients out, this will prove to be a key
project. This project will remove some 270 kilograms of phosphorus and 330 kilograms
of nitrogen each year. The state government has put $2.5 million towards this
program, and the federal government has contributed about $1.5 million.
Stage 1 of the wetland will take about three months to
complete now that construction has begun. This will include the planting of up
to 50 000 native plants as well as some ripples that will assist to strip
nutrients from the Ellen Brook waterway before it flows into the Swan and
Canning River systems. Equally important—members with electorates on
the river will know this—in managing the water quality improvement of
the Swan and Canning Rivers is foreshore stabilisation. Foreshore stabilisation
is an issue that members with river-fronting electorates raise with me again
and again. This project will include 800 square metres of riverbank
stabilisation. It is designed as a compartmentalised system that allows for a
further seven wetland basins to be constructed should it prove to be as
successful as we believe that it will be. I look forward to updating the house
about that.
The Ellen Brook wetland builds on a range of programs that
the Liberal–National government has continued to invest into the Swan
and Canning River systems. The river systems have seen a steady improvement in
their health over the past five years. Clearly, some historical issues must be
dealt with, but the government's strategies are working and we are
seeing a demonstrable improvement in river health. However, the government does
not rest on its laurels and more work is to be done. We have started the Ellen
Brook wetland, and work will continue in that area. The state government
recently invested in a $1.2 million nutrient-stripping wetland in Bayswater,
which members representing that area will already be familiar with. As I
informed the house recently, work has started in the last couple of weeks on
our fifth oxygenation plant on the Swan River out at Nicholson Road Bridge. The
plant has the latest oxygenation technology and will service a further 2.2 kilometres
of the river, which, as I showed the house previously, is the area of the river
in most need of oxygen. The plant builds on the four existing plants in the
Swan and Canning River systems to help to prevent algal blooms and to preserve
aquatic life in our river system. I look forward to updating the house on
further measures the Liberal–National government will take to protect
our Swan and Canning River systems.
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