Curriumundi Lake re-opened ahead of school holidays

Currimundi Lake’s entrance to the Pacific Ocean has been re-opened following its natural closure earlier this year that reduced the cost of the annual attempt to reduce biting midge numbers.

In previous years, Sunshine Coast Council has manually closed the lake entrance in late August-early September to combat the breeding of the biting midge.

This year,council’s program was trialed during the winter months  after the lake entrance unexpectedly closed naturally in July.

Division 3 Councillor Peter Cox said an extended period of dry weather had assisted the trial, but also heightened the focus on ensuring water quality was maintained within the lake during the closure.

“The entrance to the lake is traditionally closed off at its high tide level in September to reduce midge larvaein an attempt to minmise the adult biting midge population,” Cr Cox said.

“This year saw the program run earlier in the year to take advantage of the lake’s natural closure, delivering a saving of around $30,000.

“Results of the midge reduction program so far show the rate of larval mortality has been slower than during previous spring closures, reducing midge lave numbers by approximately 76%.

“These results will be compared with those of our previous years to help us determine the whether factors such as timing and tides can increase the effectiveness of the program and help us to better plan future closures.”

Works began at 7.30am today (September 12) to re-open the lake’s entrance with a 20-tonne excavator digging out the sand berm as the tide dropped.

“For a couple of years before the introduction of the closure program in 2007, larval biting midge abundance was very high in the Currimundi area, averaging up to 240 larvae per square metre in the lake,” Cr Cox said.

“In the years since then they have only averaged 54 larvae per square metre, an overall average reduction of 78%.

“As a result, significantly fewer biting midge complaints are received by council in the Currimundi area compared to a decade ago.”

The re-opening works also form part of a three-year Australian Research Council (ARC) partnership, with the University of Queensland and Sunshine Coast University to monitor water velocity, height, and basic water quality (including salinity and temperature) during the re-opening of Currimundi Lake.