Byron council uses machinery to open Belongil Creek mouth in response to high water levels and wet weather

The decision increases the risk of possible fish kills in the waterway, but the council said it would continually monitor conditions there.

Byron Shire Council has worked to mechanically open the Belongil Creek mouth in response to high creek levels and wet weather.

Byron Shire Council has used machinery to manually open Belongil Creek.

The council has cited high water levels in the creek coupled with this week’s wet weather as the reason behind the decision.

The council scraped the sandbar earlier in the week and the creek has been opened to the ocean today.

“The mechanical opening of the Belongil Creek mouth has been successful this morning,” the council said in a post on social media.

“Our staff are continuing to monitor the area.”

After the sandbar was scraped on Monday, the council had hoped the creek would open by itself.

But on Thursday morning before further intervention, the ICOLL was still closed, causing water to inundate parts of the flood plain.

Belongil Creek.

The Belongil’s water level sat “very high” at 1.32m before the creek was opened.

The council's infrastructure planning co-ordinator, James Flockton, said manually opening the creek was a last resort.

This is because of the risk of possible fish kills, which have been an issue in the Belongil and Tallow Creek in the past.

Both creeks are intermittently open and closed lagoon systems.

“Belongil Creek, and nearby Tallow Creek, are extremely sensitive ecosystems and while our responsibility is to manage these waterways to mitigate flooding in the catchment, our aim is to have as little impact on the environment as possible,” Mr Flockton said.

“One of the big problems is that when a sandbar is opened there is often a very fast release of water from the creek and this can cause a fish kill.

“Allowing the water to continue to build up behind the sandbank and spread across the flood plain means the water is poor quality because of decomposed vegetation like grass and this then flows quickly down the creek and also increases the risk of a fish kill.

“We are hoping that the wet weather will help reduce the chance of a fish kill – that’s the last thing we want to see.”

He said the council was monitoring water levels and was in regular contact with relevant authorities, including the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Environment and the Marine Parks Authority.