With more rain expected, there have been efforts to manually open Belongil Creek to prevent flooding

The water in the creek was very high before scraping took place, and the council has acknowledged there is “always the risk of a fish kill” when the creek is manually opened to the ocean.

Belongil Creek in Byron Bay.

With more wet weather predicted this week, Byron Shire Council has undertaken scraping works at the entrance to Belongil Creek in Byron Bay.

With a sandbar acting as a dam, the water in the creek was very high, at about 1.27m, before scraping took place on Monday.

The council’s infrastructure planning co-ordinator James Flockton said any heavy rainfall in those conditions would bring a risk of flooding in the catchment.

The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast up to 10mm of rain on Wednesday, 15 to 25mm on Thursday, 25 to 40mm on Friday and 25 to 45mm on Saturday, with showers easing on Sunday.

Byron Shire Council has been scraping the Belongil Creek opening ahead of wet weather.

“Wherever possible we try to avoid manually opening up the Belongil because there is always the risk of a fish kill, but given the already high water level, and the prediction of rain, we are scraping the sandbar in the hope that the creek will then open naturally,” Mr Flockton said.

Like the nearby Tallow Creek, Belongil Creek is an intermittently open and closed lagoon system.

“Belongil Creek and 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.

“We have been continuously monitoring the water levels and we are in regular communication with authorities including the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Environment and the Marine Parks Authority.

“We have communicated to all agencies to let them know we are scraping the sandbar.”

While Tallow Creek is also closed to the ocean, there are no immediate plant to attempt to open it to the ocean.