Mosquito resort

A Gerringong resident has hit out at Kiama Council for wasting good quality agricultural land along Omega Flats describing the area as aneyesore that has the potential to drive away tourists.

Ken Mitchell of Gerringong said that unless council begin to keep Werri lagoon properly open any hope of farming the land will be lost and the entrance to Gerringong will become a fulltime unsightly flood and mud pit.

For the last 20 years I have been observing the changes to what was viable agricultural land on the eastern side of Fern street at Omega, he said. It has now changed to be a mud hole. This is a disgrace for the tourists as they drive into town.

?Mr Mitchell said the land had been used as top quality agricultural land for the past 160 years but the land could now be useless.

The land might be gone already, it could be too late, he said. Since council took control of opening it things have got pretty bad. It stinks, it has become a resort for mosquitoes and it looks terrible.

Tourists want to see big black and white cows eating grass in a paddock when they enter a town not mud covered flats with no vegetation and no livestock to be seen. If it gets any muddier at all I believe it will be destroyed, as it is there would have to be a lot of work done on it for it to survive.

Kiama councils Director of Engineering and Works Bryan Whittaker said said council had been monitoring the water levels in the lagoon saying the current water height was reaching a level where council would consider artificially re-opening the lagoon.

As required by the Department of Natural Resources a policy for the artificial opening of Werri lagoon was prepared by Kiama council and the Department of Natural Resources and has been in place since 2005, he said. The policy was adopted following community consultation which included written submissions from adjoining landowners.

The policy sets a critical water level at which the beach can be opened by council. The level takes into account the need to prevent flooding of low lying houses and the need to protect the critical ecosystem in the lagoon.

The present level is approximately 0.3 metres below the level that requires opening.

Council and the Department of Natural resources monitor the water level via a remote automatic water level recorder on a regular basis and the council will be checking closely the effect of the present rain.

Mr Mitchell disagreed with council saying at the rate the water was travelling across Omega flats it was inevitable water would soon move to the western side of the Princes Highway destroying more good land.

The salinity will rip through that land across the highway, it would be silly of council to waste even more good land, he said. Some people would say the excess water is from the rising ocean but this is not the case at all. I have been travelling past this land since I was four and the only time it has flooded is when the lagoon was closed.

Who knows what they are going to do with it. Its no good for housing, they would just sink and who would want to live there anyway. Instead of spending a couple of hours opening the lagoon it looks like they would rather spend millions trying to fix their own mistakes. All I am asking is for a little common sense.