By Tyler Wright
Hills residents have gathered at a Melbourne Water application workshop to apply for a grant which will enable locals to maintain a waterway that runs from Rivington Avenue to Sassafras Creek at Beagleys Bridge in Kallista.
Friends of Sassafras Creek (FOSC) president Jane Hollands, who attended the workshop on Thursday 19 January, said the tributary that runs behind residents on Monbulk Road has been impacted by significant flooding in the area.
“A lot of the gravel that’s coming on the tributary must be coming down [Sassafras] Creek,” Ms Hollands said.
“Tradescantia, which is a weed… if it’s growing on your grass it flows down the tributary and infects the creek.
“There are often trees falling down and they do cause damage. There’s a huge amount that needs doing, and there’s a whole area that our group hasn’t worked on.”
Ms Hollands said residents along the waterway can apply through the Melbourne Water Liveable Communities, Liveable Waterways program to receive funds to weed the area along their property.
“There’s been some of the properties have got a massive amount of gravel on them and this won’t help with the gravel, but there may be some things that can be done to help,” she said.
“People finding out what they can and can’t do and what help they can get makes it a whole lot easier.”
Ms Hollands said she wonders how recent rainfall will impact local species including the Dandenong freshwater amphipod Austrogammarus Australis.
“How these little critters and everything keep staying in the fast flowing stormwater – they do – but all of that is impacted,” she said.
“There are fish that live in there, galaxias have been seen in the water, and they can only be impacted in some way.”
Funding for projects through Liveable Communities, Liveable Waterways is varied depending on the activities of the project, a Melbourne Water spokesperson said.
Individual projects can get up to $2,200 plus GST towards hiring a professional weed management contractor; up to 80 per cent of the cost of stock exclusion fencing (dependent on setback); and 100 per cent of revegetation costs dependent on the capacity of project owner for installation, the spokesperson said.
“This tributary of Sassafras Creek is in need for some care and attention and it is great to see the community (lead by the Kallista Flood watch group) rallying around to improve the condition and health of their local waterway and overall, the health of the greater Woori Yallock catchment.”
“Once projects have been uploaded to Melbourne Water’s online portal, they can hear back from our support officers soon on the fine tuning of their project details and next steps, IE: organising a site assessment from our external assessment team, approval/endorsement for funding for their projects and contract signing/payment process then project initiation.”
