Second day of community sandbagging at Nobles Rocks (Long Swamp) a big success!

On Sunday, a slightly smaller but very dedicated and energetic crew of volunteers headed down to Nobles Rocks, to pick up where we left off on Thursday.

And what can I say – the results speak for themselves!

Looking up the channel towards the structure before the first community sandbagging day on Thursday got underway. The gauge board upstream is at 53 cm deep – equal to the depth of free flowing water in the channel, as the structure is not yet influencing water levels.

How we left the structure on Thursday the 9th April – with the upstream gauge board now rising by 21 cm up to 74 cm deep.

The structure by the end of the second community sandbagging day on Sunday the 12th of April, and the gauge board reading 105 cm.

Levels by the end of the first community sandbagging day last Thursday.

… and we are certainly on the way up by the end of Sunday!

Over 1000 sandbags later on Sunday, and we are really starting to get somewhere… In fact, we have now reached an elevation roughly equivalent to the Phase 1 structure, lifting upstream levels in the channel by a total 52 cm since we started restricting flows on Thursday.

However, we are still about 50 cm below the height of the upstream, smaller Phase 2 structure, which means that we still have a considerable way to go yet before directly influencing water levels in the swamp proper. This is why the Phase 3 structure needs to be larger (to withstand extra head pressure of the water upstream, for our new target elevation) and wider (to tie in with a higher point in the dunes, we had no choice but to work where the channel is quite broad).

All of that means lots of sandbags to fill, lift and shift; but also some very satisfied volunteers, now seeing the the results of their hard work really taking shape before their eyes.

Thursday is shaping up to be a very interesting day in this restoration journey, so if you’d like to join us, please register with NGT’s Jess Bourchier on 0438 671 356 or by email.

We hope to see you then!

PS – If you’d like to see a timelapse video (another Lachie masterpiece!) of all the action from Sunday, please click here: NGT community sandbagging on Sunday 12th April 2015