Extensive works recommended

The Correa Bay water quality report has recommended "extensive" works be carried out on the Bull's Hill quarry, Gosford Council has been told.

The report was presented to Gosford Council in December following an investigation that was conducted by the community-based Correa Bay Water Quality Management Committee but its recommendations were only revealed last week.

It recommended that the Department for Land and Water Conservation (DLWC) be asked to install sediment traps at its Bull's Hill quarry site and extensively rehabilitate and revegetate the area.

It wanted the entire area landscaped including "the illegally quarried buffer zone and that part of the National Park illegally quarried" and "establish a passive recreation area to complement the surrounding National Park".

It also recommended that the department carry out extensive dredging in Correa Bay to return the bay to its former depth and that it develop large scale sediment traps in the lower reaches of Woy Woy Creek.

The report also recommended that the former owners of Robson's Quarry at South Woy Woy be requested to share the cost of dredging.

The committee recommended legal action be taken "as necessary to have the parties meet their obligations under the various environmental laws".

It recommended that Gosford Council take legal action against the department, Robsons and the Environmental Protection Authority.

Other recommendations of the committee included that Council put measures in place to prevent suspended particles leaving the tip, investigate allegations of unauthorised material from Homebush Bay being dumped at the tip and that Council put siltation traps in Everglades Creek.

The committee asked that a water testing program continue in Correa Bay and that the Correa Bay Water Quality Management Committee be given permanent status.

It also asked that the report be released to the public.

Council agenda, March 6