Over the next 12 months, Sydney Water will invest close to 1 million dollars to produce and install five more gross pollutant traps (GPTs) to protect the city’s flora and fauna. These traps sit on our storm drainage waterways collecting tonnes of plastic and other debris every year.
Last year alone, 75 traps across Sydney collected a record 1500 cubic metres of waste across the city’s stormwater networks. That’s the equivalent of almost 9,500 bathtubs of debris.
Sydney Water owns and operates around 450 kilometres of Storm Water channels across the city, from Bondi in the east to Wentworthville in the west, and Rouse Hill in the north.
Gross Pollutant Traps are structures to catch debris before it enters our sensitive environments. Plastics, rubber balls, styrofoam, shopping trolleys, chairs, footwear, rubber tyres and the occasional car bumper bar are among some of the waste.
GPTs are strategically placed to protect sensitive ecosystems and areas with high wastage loads. This includes protecting some of the city’s most significant examples of coastal freshwater wetlands and critically endangered flora and fauna.
Once the GPT contractor removes debris from the GPTs, they recycle plastics where appropriate. They also process organic matter for reuse as a gardening product.
Sydney Water plans to roll out five more GPTs in areas across the city. Three GPTs will be installed at our Parkside Drive Wetland site in Kogarah Bay. Two GPTs will be installed at our Milson Park Wetland site in Westmead.
Sydney Water Network Programs Scientist Lorne Gurney says the Gross Pollutant Traps are hugely beneficial in keeping our waterways clean.
“The real benefit of this program is the environmental benefit. We see this as a tangible way to help ensure the wildlife in our wetlands continues to flourish. We all love healthy waterways,” he said.
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