Will the water be swim-safe?
Council is fighting a decision made by the NSW Government to pull the plug on funding for the Beachwatch water quality monitoring program.
All Sydney coastal councils will be forced to self-fund water quality monitoring from 1 July, when the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCC) stops covering the cost.
To maintain the Beachwatch service, Sydney councils will need to sign on as a partner and nominate whether they will provide their own collection and analysis of water quality samples or engage DCC to undertake some or all of this work.
Council has determined that it will not participate in the program. Mayor Sue Heins told Peninsula Living Pittwater: “There is no legal obligation for council to provide this service, especially as the costs involved may be prohibitive.
“There are several fixed costs for the operation of such a program. DCC is able to defray these costs over a number of council areas, lowering the cost that an individual council could not.”
Beachwatch has been testing water for councils since 1989, with council closing or opening 39 beaches according to water pollution levels. The DCC would charge council up to $198,800 annually to continue with the program, which has not been budgeted for.
Mayor Heins said that ‘the decision to shift costs to coastal councils is unfair to our communities’.
“While the government may justify this as a ‘user-pays’ system, they are failing to acknowledge that the people using this service come from a wide range of local government areas, not just coastal communities. It should remain state-funded.”
The Sydney Coastal Councils Group (SCCG) is taking a lead role in making representations to the NSW Minister for Environment to reverse the decision to cut Beachwatch funding.
Mayor Heins said the benefits of the program extended ‘far beyond’ the areas in which the sampling occurred. “The trusted information provided is valued and used not just by local communities, but visitors from across Sydney, around Australia and internationally.”