Cootamundra residents have voiced their frustrations over the state of Muttama Creek, which flows through the town. Photo: Steph Cooke MP.
In response to the significant flooding events in 2022-23, Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council (CGRC) is taking steps to secure funding to improve Muttama Creek.
Many community members have told CGRC of their frustration over the state of the creek, which winds through Cootamundra.
CGRC Mayor Abb McAlister acknowledged the residents’ concerns about the waterway.
“Everyone has an opinion of what council should do with Muttama Creek as it flows through Cootamundra, and I appreciate that residents do have concerns regarding flooding. However, we need to do this right,” Cr McAlister said.
“As a council, we need to establish ownership of land along the creek, some of which is privately owned.
“We need to get the correct permits and approvals in place, which we have now, to clean up near council infrastructure and we need to put together a master plan to present to the community and the various government bodies involved in waterways.”
Cr McAlister said a master plan would take into consideration the floodplain management plan, the guidelines set down by the NSW Government entities and community feedback.
“We are vigorously following funding and grant opportunities to allow council to undertake the next step in a solution for Muttama Creek,” he said.
CGRC’s ability to do maintenance work on Muttama Creek is limited because it is under the control of the Crown. However, through permits, the council is allowed to do work on its own structures, such as causeways and bridges.
The council can remove vegetation and excavate some material within 10 metres upstream and downstream from the creek at specific locations.
Undertaking this work is under strict permit approvals, including working at times of minimal water flow and with erosion and sediment protection measures in place.
A document from the Department of Planning and Environment outlines the considerations CGRC must adopt and address in the master plan.
These include identifying the width of the riparian corridor and its functions in the design and construction of any instream works.
The design should accommodate fully structured native vegetation and establish natural bed and bank profiles where possible.
The plan needs to allow sediment and woody debris movements while preventing increased scour and erosion of the watercourse bed or banks in any storm events.
Works or structures should be avoided on bends in the channel unless they are specifically designed to restore stability. Also, it needs to address the existing bed degradation to protect structures and restore channel and bed stability.
On its website, CGRC has created a Mutta Creek page that contains various links from NSW Government departments and will be updated as information on the master plan comes to hand.
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