Page 3445 - Week 11 - Thursday, 11 November 2021
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(6) During 2020-21 the following numbers of staff utilised long service leave:
• ACT Public Service = 2,165
• ACT Public Sector = 95
• Combined = 2,260
Lake Tuggeranong—maintenance
(Question No 442)
Ms Lawder asked the Minister for Transport and City Services, upon notice, on 17 September 2021:
(1) What is the estimated leaf load, including nutrients, of the deciduous and evergreen trees around Lake Tuggeranong.
(2) What is the planting and replacement policy.
(3) How is Lake Tuggeranong divided in terms of areas of fertiliser application.
(4) How much fertiliser is applied in each of these areas.
(5) How often does street sweeping occur in the Tuggeranong town centre.
(6) How much of the available organics and sediment is captured.
(7) Is the Minister able to provide any research the Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate has done on the release of phosphate from organics.
Mr Steel: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) The ACT Healthy Waterways Program is conducting ongoing research with the University of Canberra into the sources of nutrient pollution entering Lake Tuggeranong and other urban waterways, including from leaf litter. Research at Lake Tuggeranong has identified that the majority of nutrients enter through the stormwater drainage system. Very little comes from specific points in the catchment, with nutrient load spread evenly across the urban areas of the catchment. This suggests that nutrients from leaves, fertiliser, soil and animal waste may be key sources, as all are known to enter road-side stormwater drains throughout the catchment. This year’s research program will focus on identifying the main sources of pollution in the catchment. Leaf litter from trees planted around the lake is thought to be of minor importance, as the stormwater system delivers far greater pollutant loads from a much larger area. For this reason we have not focused our research questions on the parklands around the lake. The H2OK: Keeping Our Waterways Healthy community education and behaviour change program has recently shifted to targeting each nutrient source separately so that we can gauge the effectiveness of each intervention. Leaf litter was selected as a suitable starting point for this approach due to the no-regrets nature of encouraging more Canberrans to see it as a valuable resource, not a nuisance.
(2) Planting in the ACT includes both native and exotic species that have been specifically chosen to survive in Canberra’s climate, while improving diversity to strengthen the
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