Perhaps AlburyCity’s dedication to preserving and enhancing the natural environment is most notably successful in its regard for its water uses, the river and its natural surrounds. Among the key initiatives outlined in AlburyCity’s Lifestyle on the Murray vision document, the Murray Recreation Trail will link to other trails that offer their own unique source of interest and attraction in the wetland environs.
A vital link in a proposed network of leisure pathways connecting all parts of the city, the trail forms part of the historic Hume and Hovell walking track. It has been designed to provide educational interest and tourism, recreational opportunities, scope for new business and employment. A variety of clearly signposted entry points and loops, offer short or long walks, bike rides and skate paths along 18 kilometres of views of the Murray River on one side and bushland, farmland, wetlands and parkland on the other.
Once complete, the recreation trail will link Mungabareena Reserve to the stunning Wonga Wetlands. The Wetlands are home to an extraordinary array of diverse bird life that has been flocking to the region in a mass migration not seen since early European settlement. Among the 130 species of birds now coming to the newly created Wetlands, eurasian coots, caspian terns, pink-eared ducks and the Japanese snipe can be seen. And then there is the sea eagle that has adopted a gum tree in lagoon 1 as its home.
Located downstream from Albury along the floodplain of the River Murray, the Wonga Wetlands provide a fine example of environmental management based on some lateral thinking. The water which is bringing this previously degraded riverine area new life, is not directly from the Murray, but from AlburyCity’s wastewater treatment facility, Waterview.
At one time, Albury was listed among the 10 worst polluters of the River Murray until the City Council invested $30 million in Waterview. This treatment facility combines technically advanced purification with a philosophy of re-using reclaimed water in a way that makes its use beneficial to the environment.
Driving this environmental strategy is AlburyCity’s awareness that, as a top end user, it must ensure that the water quality for downstream communities is not degraded by sewage discharge or polluted storm water. The opening of Waterview in July 1999 heralded the most sophisticated and ecologically sustainable response to wastewater management and re-use in regional Australia.
During the warmer months, the reclaimed water is used to irrigate pine and hardwood plantations planted as part of a joint venture with the NSW State Forests. In the wetter months, water is redirected to the Wonga Wetlands, helping to mimic the original hydrological conditions that existed before construction of the Hume Dam in 1919. The irrigation methods used recreate perfectly the methods employed prior to settlement in the area.
With the support of a community advisory committee, AlburyCity’s development at the wetlands is establishing a major eco-tourism and education destination. With an education centre, nature trails, boardwalks and bird hides.
With a lot of community consultation, good planning and a willingness to adopt the new and adapt old technology, AlburyCity is regarded as a model environmental citizen. Waterview has attracted a string of accolades including a national award for excellence in environmental management.
A regional Phoswatch Campaign, encourages local industry and householders to minimise phosphorus discharge to waterways, thereby controlling the blue-green algae scourge. Because Council has provided information about the link between phosphorus and blue-green algae, the Phoswatch initiative, running for eight years, has reduced the levels of phosphorus discharged into the Murray River.
