Clean water group and council work together to stem the tide of rubbish in lake

Some 18 months ago SWAMP (Sustainable Water Actions for Merimbula and Pambula) installed two socks, one over each of two outlets at Beach St to capture rubbish and test the group's own version of a stormwater sock against the much more expensive purchased one.

Their own version was an outright winner costing far less and was more robust, staying put on the outlet even in the biggest of downpours.

The result was 24kgs of rubbish colledcted, rubbish that otherwise would have found its way into the lake, the sea and probably resulted in some being ingested by our marine life.

The main articles of rubbish were masks, wrappers, takeaway food and beverage containers and plastics.

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President of SWAMP Marianne Kambouridis said that following a grant from council a further four outlets into the lake have socks over them and the original purchased sock has been replaced with one of SWAMP's own designs.

"SWAMP now has a total of six stormwater nets along Merimbula Lake. These are monitored and cleaned by local residents after heavy rain events. The project was funded by the Bega Valley Shire Council through one of their grants. SWAMP has collated data over the past 18 months and will continue to do so now that more nets are working," Ms Kambouridis said.

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The group is also making two nets for the very large culverts under the Waterfront Cafe which go into the lake.

"SWAMP will install more nets as more helpers become available. We're looking for citizen scientists; we give them scales and gloves so that they can weigh and record the amount of rubbish, which tends to be just after heavy rainfall," Ms Kambouridis said.

If you would like to help with this community project, please contact SWAMP at admin@swamp.org.au .