River siltation requires action

chemical cultivation over recent decades has resulted in a much better control of weeds and grasses in the cane, as well as a reduction in the number of rats.

The only baiting of rats that I have needed to do in the last 30 years is inside machinery sheds and storage sheds where rats can cause expensive damage to the modern electronic components in tractors, harvesters and other machinery. They can even cause fires. I encourage the use of modern rodenticides that have no secondary effect on other wildlife, (such as birds and reptiles), and domestic pets.

During the floods of 2022, large amounts of siltation occurred on cane farms as well as in the urban and industrial areas of the floodplains.

The drainage systems have to cope with this siltation and so a lot of money is being spent by Drainage Unions in desilting the canals.

Our local area has twelve Drainage Unions or boards which are statutory bodies assigned powers and responsibilities by s.202(1) of the Water Management

Act 2000 (NSW) to carry out drainage maintenance within their districts, in particular “to maintain in a state of efficiency the drainage works under its charge, and renew such drainage works if necessary”.

Attention must also focus on the ‘main drain’, the Tweed River, which for decades has required desilting.

The primary function of a river is to expel excess water from the catchment and return it to the ocean as part of its role in the water cycle and environmental balance in nature.

While all other functions of the river are important for humans, animals and marine life, we mustn’t forget that we humans, especially those who have arrived here in the last 160 years, have done a lot to degrade the river system.

Many of us now realise we must take action to restore the river to something like its original condition, pre-European arrival. I hope petty politics doesn’t get in the way of remediation of the river system. I encourage comment on this subject.

Best wishes, till next month. Rob Hawken