Council says it's hoping for third time lucky when it moves to reopen Belongil Creek to the ocean (hopefully) this week.

Byron Shire Council are looking to overcome waterlogging of farmland, caused by treated effluent from the Byron Sewage Treatment Plant, by diverting excess effluent via a shorter route to the Belongil Estuary. This appears to be a prelude to upgrading the STP.

Turning the West Byron housing development site into a wetland for excess effluent from the Byron Bay Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) is a possible solution to its increased output, says Greens MP Tamara Smith and Byron Shire councillor Cate Coorey.

Many of Byron Bay’s problems involve water and are closely connected, whether acid sulfate fish kills, or stormwater flooding in the central business district (CBD), or management of the sewage treatment plant (STP) effluent.

A request to rezone the rail corridor between Bayshore Drive and Lawson Street, Byron Bay, so the Byron Bay Railroad Company (solar train) can undertake track maintenance is up before councillors at this Thursday’s planning meeting, August 13.

In the lagoon, the pace of winter life during the long dry seems pretty settled. The growth of small estuarine prawns slows down. Bream now five years old are grown up, itching for saltwater and their winter spawn.

As part of the ongoing management of the Belongil Creek estuary and catchment, Council has developed a long-term strategy for the estuary opening.

Byron Shire Council (BSC) staff used the phrase ‘natural event’ to describe the recent fish kill that saw thousands of fish die in Belongil Creek. How natural was it?

Following the recent large fish kill and pollution in Belongil Creek, Byron Council staff say the NSW EPA test results ‘confirm that iron bacteria was present in the estuary water’.