Healthy Land & Water’s (HLW) Chief Science & Sustainability Officer Dr Andrew O’Neill recently made the news when he was interviewed in an ABC segment highlighting the significant impact of runoff from Brisbane construction sites on Moreton Bay.
Through HLW’s Erosion and Sediment Control (ESC) program, funded by the Queensland Government, they conduct regular audits of construction sites. The audits have uncovered that 50,000 dump trucks worth of pollutants enter their waterways each year, having a significant impact on areas like Moreton Bay and downstream marine environments.
Dr Andrew O’Neill says that full compliance with erosion and sediment control measures on construction sites is low at 15%, with many developers preferring to accept local government fines than comply with requirements. However, HLW’s data shows it’s not all bad news. “Some great results are starting to be achieved with partial compliance nearly doubling,” Dr O’Neil said.
