An unfortunate lack of foresight saw the opening of Hobart’s McRobies Gully city tip in 1975. Set in a valley above the city, built over a waterway and connected directly to Hobart Rivulet by a large stormwater pipe, the waterway suffered
In our first meeting with the City of Hobart in November 2020, we highlighted the urgent need to upgrade the McRobies outfall:
3.0 Resolve McRobies stormwater pollution of the Rivulet
Reading through archives of communications between CoH and concerned South Hobart residents dating back to the 1980’s it is clear much work has been done to rectify the problem of pollution entering the Hobart Rivulet from McRobies Gully. However a definitive solution is
required as a matter of urgency. Rubbish in waterways has dire consequences for platypus.
Repeated observations of the McRobies drain sock during heavy rain (Winter 2020) revealed:
- A foul odor emanating from the stormwater pipe
- Large amounts of rubbish in the sock being pummeled/ground down by the current before escaping through the net into the Rivulet
Additionally, after heavy rain events a repeated pattern of litter strewn 500m-750m downstream of the McRobies pipe was observed.
Not only is the ‘last line of defence’ litter sock failing, the system for preventing gross pollutants entering the stormwater pipe system remains demonstrably inadequate.
