Council officers will visit construction sites across Lake Macquarie this week as part of a statewide blitz on damaging erosion and sediment runoff.
Manager Environmental Regulation and Compliance Derek Poulton said the annual Get the Site Right campaign aimed to work with developers, builders and the community to raise awareness of the harmful repercussions when large volumes of sediment escaped from building sites.
“A single building site can lose up to four truckloads of dirt in a single storm if not properly contained,” he said.
“That ultimately ends up in our waterways, harming aquatic ecosystems and threatening other animals such as shorebirds that rely on those ecosystems to feed and survive.”
Under NSW building laws, construction sites must have a comprehensive erosion and sediment control plan.
Developers and builders who fail to implement such a plan face fines up to $15,000 for each breach.
“Get the Site Right isn’t about coming in with a heavy hand and just hitting people with fines,” Mr Poulton said.
“It’s about educating the community and working with stakeholders to improve the integrity of construction sites. Doing so will reduce their impact on the surrounding environment, as well as make their sites more stable for development to occur, so it’s a win-win.”
Get the Site Right is a joint initiative of Council, catchment groups, the NSW Environment Protection Authority and the Department of Planning and Environment, and will run from 16-20 October.
