Cobar Shire Council has received a grant of $48,000 to help educate the community on how they can assist in caring for our precious water reserves.
State Member for Barwon Kevin Humphries was in Cobar last Wednesday to present the grant to Mayor Lilliane Brady and council staff involved in the project.
Mr Humphries said the NSW Environmental Trust grants were designed to help implement community focused environmental education programs.
“Cobar Shire Council’s project aims to educate the community on how stormwater flows can affect water quality in the Newey Reservoir,” Mr Humphries said.
The Newey is a popular recreation area that is a primary catchment for stormwater flows from the majority of the town’s urban area.
“The project will include evaluating and rehabilitating natural water courses, water quality testing, media communications and community education market stalls.”
Council’s acting director of environment and planning and coordinator of the project, Stephen Poulter, said council had never undertaken a project like this before and they were keen to see the benefits of the program for the community.
“The grant project will be undertaken by Council with assistance from Peak Gold Mines and Local Land Services and will focus on educating students from all three schools in Cobar about water quality, specifically at the Newey Reservoir,” Mr Poulter said.
“We will carry out regular water testing and other water quality related projects for a 12 month period at the Newey and the inlets that run into the Newey to develop an understanding of the various things that can influence the standard of water quality.”
The project is set to commence in March next year.
