Drones are being used to monitor erosion on the banks of the lower Broken Creek around Nathalia and Numurkah.
Drones are being used to monitor erosion on the banks of the lower Broken Creek around Nathalia and Numurkah.
The Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority (CMA) is undertaking this project to gather information on the erosion and its underlying causes, which is contributing to bank degradation.
Goulburn Broken CMA River and Wetland Health Manager, Mark Turner, said erosion of the lower Broken Creek was a long-term issue.
“Over many, many decades the creek has been slowly getting wider and shallower due to the eroding banks,” Mr Turner said.
“This has caused issues such as sediment from the banks filling deep pools in the creek which reduces native fish habitat and the community tells us, has resulted in the disappearance of recreational swimming holes.
“Drones are now being used to fly along the banks each winter to measure changes in soil movement over time and vegetation assessments are being done to compare to bank vegetation results from 10 years ago.”
Mr Turner said as erosion was influenced by where water sits on the bank, assessing how creek operations such as flow delivery patterns and weir pool management influence water levels, was also being conducted, in consultation with Goulburn-Murray Water.
A new environmental water management plan for the creek will be developed from next year that takes into account the views of Traditional Owners, the local community and government agencies.
“Past management efforts have resulted in an improvement in historic issues such as poor water quality in the lower Broken Creek, so we are now turning attention to understanding how best to manage erosion and the recent monitoring, research and data will be incorporated into the management plan,” Mr Turner said.
“The CMA is looking forward to working with the local community, Yorta Yorta people, scientists and government partners to continue improving the health of lower Broken Creek and ensuring the future management direction picks up what is most important locally.”
For further information please contact the GB CMA Shepparton office on 5822 7700.
A drone is used to monitor bank condition of the lower Broken Creek.