Further dredging to protect Manning River in New South Wales

Project Updates – July 21, 2008

Local press rpeorts says additional dredging work will take place at the end of the July to keep the entrance to the Manning River open at Farquhar Inlet on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

The New South Wales Department of Lands, Greater Taree Council and a local community group will each contribute A$10,000 to allow channels to be widened.

The council’s director of engineering Greg Blaze says while the dredging will help in the short term there are no guarantees on how long the entrance remains open.

“There are existing channels, some a little bit small, so what it will mean is removing some of that sand from inside those channels, placing it adjacent to those channels,” he said.

“We have had information from the Bureau of Meteorology which suggests we will have higher than average rainfall, if we do get any further freshes in the river with the channels a little bit wider it will assist in keeping the entrance open.”