MONEY FLOW WORRY OVER WETLANDS PROTECTION

SO, a group of farmers/developers convince the planning authorities that it is a good idea to build a town in a (Armstrong) creek. Creek; a small stream, as a branch of a river.

Anyone with basic knowledge of the topography of the area would know that a town in this creek is not a good idea. The natural flow of water in the creek would eventually find its way through the wetlands into Lake Connewarre, now with the establishment of a town whatever water flows through the creek will be polluted with all manner of pollutants that naturally occur with human habitation.

The convention of wetlands signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971 is an intergovernmental treaty providing framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their sources. Lake Connewarre is a Ramsar listed wetland of internation- al importance. Now, ratepayers of the City of Greater Geelong are being forced to pay $18.4 million to acquire 500ha of Sparrowvale Wetlands adjacent to Charlemont and Armstrong Creek and cover other costs to “deal with storm water run-off” and “receive diverted water flows to remove the risk of harm to the Ramsar-listed Lake Connewarre”.

With permits already issued for thousands of residential lots in the area, will the proposed actions be enough to protect the wetlands and the lake? When the development of Armstrong Creek was first proposed, was the “conservation and wise use of the wetlands and Lake Connewarre” as laid down by the Ramsar Convention seriously considered? It would appear not.

Considering that bad decisions were made from the outset of the development of these residential precincts, should the cost of now addressing the question of storm water flows be carried by the developers and not the ratepayers of the City?

Keith Pettigrew, Leopold