Restrictions on the use of groundwater by Blue Mountains residents will continue until March 2010, the Department of Water and Energy has announced.

“Since June 2007, Blue Mountains homeowners have not been able to use groundwater to hose hard surfaces or run sprinkler systems,” the Deputy Director General of Water Management, Mr David Harriss said.

“These restrictions are necessary to ensure that precious groundwater is not wasted.”

The restrictions apply to stock and domestic bores on properties within the Blue Mountains City Council Local Government Area that are connected to town water supply.

They stipulate that groundwater cannot be used for hosing hard surfaces, such as paths or driveways, or to run watering systems, such as sprinklers.

“The Blue Mountains is a heritage listed area with many environmentally significant groundwater-dependent ecosystems, such as the hanging swamps,” Mr Harriss said.

“Groundwater from the region’s aquifers must be used wisely and not wasted.

“The restrictions will help ensure there is enough groundwater to meet the needs of the environment and the community long into the future.”

Mr Harriss said the Blue Mountains council and community should be congratulated for adhering to the restrictions over the past year and a half.

“The people of the Blue Mountains are conservationists who deeply value their environment and their continuing support in following the restrictions is appreciated,” he said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oitgGEYzU0

In this episode of Dining Downunder, Vic Cherikoff visits Echo Point in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney and drops in to the neighbouring Blue Gum and Leura Post Office restaurants. Echo Point attracts visitors from around the world and offers postcard views of the Three Sisters and out across the Jamison Valley.

Scientists provide the unimaginative explanation that the Three Sisters at Echo Point were carved from the surrounding sandstone cliffs over thousands of years by erosion which can still be seen in action today during a heavy rainstorm as water gushes down between the cracks between the pinnacles.

However the Aboriginal dreamtime story has it that three sisters, ‘Meehni’, ‘Wimlah’ and Gunnedoo’ lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe. The three sisters fell in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe but their tribal laws forbade their marriage. The three brothers did not accept this law and tried to capture the three sisters by force. This caused a major tribal battle and the lives of the three sisters were thus threatened. In order to protect them, a kaditcha man (the tribal magician) turned the sisters into towering stone pillars intending to reverse the spell after the battle. Unfortunately, he was killed in mêlée and the three sisters remain as the enormous and beautiful rock formations until today standing tall at 922m, 918m, and 906m respectively.

After visiting Blue Gum restaurant at Echo Point and delighting in a Wattleseed bread and butter pudding, Vic takes us a short way over to the Leura village and the popular, Leura Post Office Restaurant where chefs Mark and David demonstrate their take on modern Australian cuisine. Drop in for a visit today and enjoy their new menus using native Australian foods. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner daily.

For native Australian ingredients visithttp://www.cherikoff.net/shop

Blue Mountains City Council is encouraging residents to have their say on the trial dog off-leash areas before the community consultation period closes on Friday 15 May 2009.

A 12 month dog off-leash trial has been in place at eight sites across the Blue Mountains: Katoomba Falls; Bureau Park North Katoomba; Leura Oval; Pitt Park Wentworth Falls; the former Lawson Golf Club; Tom Hunter Park Faulconbridge; Sun Valley Reserve and Lapstone Oval.

Mayor, Cr Adam Searle said, “Council is continuing to seek community feedback on the trial dog off-leash areas by way of a survey and a new on-line community consultation forum.

All interested residents are encouraged to make a comment on the trial dog off-leash areas and complete a survey.

The comments received from residents will be used in determining the future of dog off-leash areas in the Blue Mountains.”

Residents can view information, download a survey and participate in an on-line forum on the trial dog off-leash areas at www.bangthetable.com/blue-mountains-city-council. Information and the survey is also available on Council’s website (click here to view). Hard copies of the survey are available at Council’s Katoomba and Springwood offices and local libraries.

Completed surveys should be sent by mail to:

Post?Dog Off-leash Trial Survey?Blue Mountains City Council?Locked Bag 1005?KATOOMBA NSW 2780

Fax?(02) 4780 5562

Email?council@bmcc.nsw.gov.au

Delivery?Council’s Springwood or Katoomba offices

Mayor Adam Searle continued, “The trial dog off-leash areas will remain in place after the community consultation period closes on the 15th May. After this time, Council will evaluate the community response to the trial and consider the options for on-going dog off-leash areas within the City.

Council would like to take this opportunity to remind dog owners that the trial dog off-leash areas are subject to time and day restrictions and that dogs must at all times be under their owners’ effective control in public, including designated dog off-leash areas.

“It is also the responsibility of dog owners to pick up their dogs faeces when in public spaces”, concluded mayor, Adam Searle.

Two missing bushwalkers have been found in the Kanangra Boyd National Park after activating an emergency tracking beacon.

About 3:30pm, Sunday, March 22, a 38-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman from Faulconbridge were bushwalking in the area when they got into difficulty and activated the emergency beacon.

As a result the Australian Search and Rescue organisation detected the beacon signal and police rescue were notified. 

A short time later a medical retrieval helicopter was dispatched and the pair were found at 5:15pm with one of them suffering from leg injuries. They were winched to safety and taken to Nepean Hospital for treatment.

Police are reinforcing the message to bushwalkers to plan their trips and be prepared in case of any emergency. 

The “Think before you TREK” program was launched late last year where bushwalkers can log the details of their trip with police from the Blue Mountains Local Area Command. The beacons are available from Katoomba and Springwood police stations. 

Inspector Steve Oswald from Blue Mountains police has encouraged people to take responsibility for their personal safety.

“We urge people to log their trip with us so we know their proposed route and duration”, Inspector Oswald said.

As part of this program bushwalkers can also obtain an emergency distress beacon for the duration of their trip and details of the program can be found at www.police.nsw.gov/trek.

Thanks to the Community Bulk Buy Discounts on solar panels that we’ve co-ordinated with Aussie Solar, the Blue Mountains is well on the way to becoming a Solar Neighbourhood.

Due to an unprecedented run on the Federal Government’s Solar Panel rebate scheme, around 1000 households a week are applying for solar panel rebates - 30 times more than the Government budgetted for. According to Lis Bastian, who is co-ordinating the Bulk Buy Programme, Aussie Solar has guaranteed that, despite huge price increases on imported solar panels, the price of the current offer will remain the same for this project.

It means you can get a 1kW system with a 2 kW inverter (which allows you to add another kW at a later date) for under $2000 after receiving the rebate. A 1kW system has an output of about 5kWh per day, which is about one third to one quarter of your energy needs, depending on your energy usage. This could reduce your annual energy bill by around $300 per year. This means that it would only take about 3 years to earn back your investment. If feed-in tarrifs are introduced you might even start earning money from the grid.”

Supporters of renewable energy have been lobbying hard for feed-in schemes like those in Germany and other countries. According to Lis this would make solar energy more viable for all Australian households. “The principle of feed-in schemes in Germany,” said Lis, “is that you get paid more for the energy that your solar panel produces than you would pay if you bought that energy yourself from the grid. If, for example, you went away on holidays over summer, your solar panel would continue to convert the sun’s energy and feed it into the grid. If the feed-in tarrif was at least $0.60 per kWh your solar panel would be earning you around $3 a day while you were away. If you had a 2 kW system this would be about $6 a day, and so on. Add this to your other savings for having the panels, and this would make your investment in solar extremely viable.

Several Australian states already have feed-in tariff schemes in place - South Australia, Queensland and Victoria have introduced net feed-in tariffs which means they pay homeowners for the electricity exported to the grid minus what is consumed in the home at the time it is produced. 
According to Lis, however, there should be a National Feed-in Tariff and it should be a Gross feed in rate. This means that you are paid for all the energy made by your system and any extra power you use from the grid you buy at the current rate. 

For example, a home that uses on average 20kW per day and has a solar system that produces on average 10kW per day will be paid for that at say 60c per kW ($6.00) and will pay say 15c per kW to the energy company for the power it uses to supplement the solar system. Net daily gain would be $4.50. 

On July 2nd, the ACT Parliament passed the Electricity Feed-In Tariff Bill which approved Australia’s first gross feed-in tariff. The bill comes into effect no later than July 2009 but there is every expectation that this bill will be effective before the end of this year. 

Key features of the Bill are payment will be 3.88 times the tariff - approx 60c/kWh. Both business and the residential sector can benefit. This is also the first time there are incentives in place to encourage the commercial sector to invest in solar power. 

“Buying solar panels now, with the Community Bulk Buy discount and the current rebate while it still exists, and before import prices go up even further, is an extremely smart move,” said Lis. “Then we just have to lobby NSW to follow the ACT’s lead! It’s estimated that with a 2kW system, the per annum net gain in the ACT will be in the realm of $1629.”

If you’d like to be part of this Discounted Community Bulk Buy of solar panels contact Lis on 4787 7533.

Blue Mountains City Council has signed up for Earth Hour 2009.

At 8:30pm this Saturday, March 28, Council will ensure that all non-essential lights in the main Council administration building in Katoomba are switched off for one hour, in support of Earth Hour.

Earth Hour is a global climate change initiative organised by the global conservation organisation WWF (World Wildlife Fund for Nature).

Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007 when approximately 2.2 million people and 2,100 businesses took part. The Australian initiative is now a truly global effort to focus attention on the threat of climate change, with people in 62 countries already signing up to switch off their lights for one hour from 8:30pm on Saturday 28 March 2009.

Mayor Cr Adam Searle said, “Earth Hour is a worldwide campaign that aims to educate the community about the threats of climate change, informing individuals and businesses about the difference they can make by reducing their emissions at home and in the workplace.

Council is committed to reducing our corporate energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and is working hard towards the goals that have been set in our Energy and Water Strategy 2007 - 2010.

I am proud to say that Council has exceeded its GHG reduction targets ahead of time. We have reduced our GHG emissions by 15% of 2004 levels and yet the target is to reduce our GHG emissions by 10% of 2004 levels by 2012.”

If all Australian households simply turned off unused lights and appliances on standby at the power point, Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by at least 5 million tonnes per annum - the equivalent to taking 1.5 million cars off the road for a year.

“I encourage Blue Mountains residents to join with Council in undertaking this small but significant action and switch off their lights for Earth Hour on 28 March 2009 from 8:30pm - 9:30pm.

Earth Hour is a great way to take action in reducing the impacts of climate change but it is important to continue to be energy efficient beyond Earth Hour, by undertaking small actions everyday to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

Simple things like turning off appliances while not in use, turning out lights when you’re not in a room and switching your light globes to energy efficient bulbs, will all help. Switching to cleaner sources of electricity like accredited ‘green power’ can also make a big difference”, Cr Searle concluded.

To find out more or to sign-up to Earth Hour 2009 go to www.earthhour.org.

There are a number of prescribed burns taking place each day this week and also on the weekend.

The following prescribed burns are planned for this week:

Tuesday: Sublime Point, Leura. 25ha.

Wednesday: Winbourne Ave, Hazelbrook. 52ha

Thursday: Chester Road, Wentworth Falls. 47ha.

Friday: Terpeian Rock, Katoomba. 6ha.

These activities are taking place on National Parks and Wildlife Service managed land, with some small areas of private property included, and are approved activities under the Blue Mountains Bush Fire Management Committee’s Hazard Reduction Programme.

For more information and maps, visit http://www.bluemountains.rfs.nsw.gov.au/dsp_more_info.cfm?CON_ID=6773&CAT_ID=76

Public opposition is growing to proposed changes to National Parks laws that will allow new commercial accommodation in national parks. This follows a public meeting of leading environmental activists in Sydney last month and similar public meetings across the state in the last three months.
The changes to the National Parks and Wildlife Act were agreed by Government when they adopted a report by a task force on tourism and national parks in December last year.
Legislation is expected in the next session of Parliament to weaken both the National Parks and Wildlife Act and the Wilderness Act.
Public meetings have been held so far in Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Wentworth Falls, Bermagui and Canberra and six other locations in Sydney.
All of the meetings unanimously supported resolutions calling for no new private accommodation in national parks and instead supported public investment in national parks with accommodation provided in nearby towns and nearby private lands.
At the most recent meeting in Sydney, the speakers debunked the argument that new commercial development in national parks is needed to fund park management or to significantly increase visitor numbers.
“We are determined to stop the weakening of the national park laws”, said Keith Muir.
“There is a growing band of activists who have pledged to organise further action against the changes to the laws.”
“What we want instead is public investment in good walking tracks near major vehicle and public transport access points, rangers on the ground to assist with enhancing the nature experience and basic visitor infrastructure . , said Andrew Cox, executive officer of the National Parks Association ”
“If our national parks offer good experiences and you provide access and promotion to key sights then the people will follow, whether they are local visitors or international tourists.”
“This way the surrounding towns and their businesses with their ready-to-go infrastructure can also share the benefits, without development of national parks.
“There is a growing band of activists who have pledged to organise further action against the changes to the laws.”
The resolution passed unanimously in Sydney last night is below.

David King with daughters Kelsie and Bethany, and family friend Elly Chatfield clean up The Lilypond, Faulconbridge - a memorial for Aboriginal man, Claude Cooper, who died in the 1950s fires.

MORE than 32 tonnes of rubbish was recovered by almost 300 volunteers during Clean Up Australia in the Blue Mountains this year.
Volunteers from Lapstone to Mt Wilson and Blackheath to Mt Tomah diligently collected rubbish from Mountains parks and reserves, as well as roadside verges.
“Over 32 tonnes of rubbish was been removed from the Blue Mountains environment thanks to our local community,” Mayor, Cr Adam Searle, said.
“I would particularly like to congratulate members of the Katoomba Falls Creek Valley Bushcare Group, who celebrated 20 years of cleaning up Frank Walford Reserve. This small group of local residents started their own clean up campaign before Ian Kiernan invented Clean Up Australia Day. Their dedication to the restoration of The Gully area is commendable and appreciated.”
Residents of all ages were assisted by the Katoomba Rotary Club, local Fire Brigades, the Blue Mountains 4WD Club, Springwood Bushwalking Club and the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
The ‘Clean Up Conversations’ at Major Mitchell Reserve, Blaxland and Skarratt Park, Lapstone highlighted the importance of protecting the Endangered Turpentine Ironbark Forest.
Council’s Bushland Management officers Eric Mahony, Trish Kidd and Andrew Rhodes explained the flora and fauna of this unique environment to volunteers before an informative historic talk on Knapsack Bridge with Tim Miers and Doug Knowles from the Glenbrook Historic Society. All the while, 1,500kg of rubbish was removed from these local reserves.
Schools Clean Up Day, held on Friday, February 27, was a huge success with students form 23 local schools collecting hundreds of bags of rubbish from school grounds and surrounding areas.
Primary students from Lapstone and Glenbrook Public Schools took special care of the Endangered Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest on and around their school grounds.
Council’s Bushland Management officers Eric Mahony and Trish Kidd talked with the students about the issues facing the remaining 220 hectares of the Turpentine Ironbark Forest that once covered Western Sydney. They also heard about the geological formation of the area.
Student Tim Wohlers-Reichel, said “I will never look at the cuttings along the highway in the same way. Now I know how the Nepean River has moved and the landform has changed. That’s why we find nice round stones in Lapstone - from the old riverbed.”
The students also learnt how to recognise the endangered eucalypt and their seeds. They plan to join forces with Council to grow trees from the seeds collected on the day to plant on National Tree Planting Day in July. In only 20 minutes, the 90 students involved collected over 100kgs of rubbish from the bushland next to their schools.

Aquatic life in a five kilometre stretch of a unique river system in the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area has been almost wiped out by pollution from a disused coal mine, a University of Western Sydney study has found.
Dr Ian Wright, from the School of Natural Sciences, has recorded toxic levels of the heavy metal zinc in the upper tributaries of the Grose River which flows through the threatened Blue Gum Forest.
The pollution is being discharged from the closed Canyon Colliery - which operated from the 1920s to 1997 - near the upper Blue Mountains town of Bell.
“Groundwater flowing through the mine is picking up contaminants, including very high and unnatural levels of zinc. A horizontal drainage shaft is channelling the polluted water to an opening at the headwaters of the Grose River,” says Dr Wright, who is a post doctoral research fellow.
“Zinc contamination in Dalpura Creek, which feeds into the Grose River, is up to 600 micrograms per litre of water. This is more than 10 times the safe level.
“Just 10 to 50 micro grams of zinc per litre of water is toxic to aquatic life,” he says.
While, the pollution is not toxic to humans it is having a devastating impact on the local ecosystem.
In the research, which has been peer reviewed, Dr Wright found the contaminated water had a smaller variety of aquatic life compared to unpolluted stretches of the river.
“Most of the Grose River is a wild and undisturbed river system teaming with small aquatic animals or macroinvertebrates which form an important link in the food chain,” Dr Wright says.
“However, the biodiversity of the river was significantly reduced where the levels of zinc were high. The varieties of aquatic macroinvertebrates - including insects - in the polluted stretches were slashed by half.”
Dr Wright says in the contaminated areas he found just 20 per cent of the number of animals living in the clean reaches.
“You could almost describe some sections of the upper Grose River as sterile or dead,” he says.
Dr Wright also examined the impact on the river system from the Blackheath sewage treatment plant (STP) which discharges almost one mega litre of treated effluent each day in to Hat Hill Creek, a tributary of the Grose River.
Hat Hill Creek below the STP recorded levels of phosphorous more than 100 times the level in non polluted areas, and nitrogen was also more than 100 times normal background levels for the stream. However, the inflow of treated sewage did have one unexpected consequence.
“Macroinvertebrate abundance which declined below the mine contamination site actually increased immediately after the treated sewage entered the river,” Dr Wright says.
“Although the extra water, organic matter and nutrients did improve the food supply for some aquatic life, overall river life in the vicinity of both pollution sources was severely impaired compared to the pristine stretches of the Grose River.”
The Blackheath STP is scheduled to be switched off this year as part of a multi-million dollar environmental upgrade. The sewage which currently enters the upper Grose River will be diverted to more advanced treatment facilities further down the mountains.
Dr Wright is anticipating a major recovery of ecosystem health and water quality in Hat Hill Creek but is also concerned the sudden decrease in water volume and nutrients from the sewage treatment plant could actually intensify the damage to the Grose River.
“Removing almost one million litres of treated sewage water a day from the river system could result in the zinc pollution intensifying and spreading further downstream. The contaminated mine water is a permanent toxic spring, so the only way to stop the damage would be to treat or redirect the polluted water,” says Dr Wright.