Koonawarra - Environment

The environment of Koonawarra is largely influenced by its location on the western shore of Lake Illawarra.

Lake Illawarra is the main water body in the Illawarra catchment area and has been subject to high levels of sedimentation from stormwater discharges, sewage overflows, run-off from crop and dairy farms, influx from industry and sand deposits from the ocean.

Since 1896 it has been estimated that more than 40cm of sediment has accumulated in the lake. The sediment composition of Lake Illawarra's bed consists of 54% soft black muds, 26% lithic sandy deposits and 20% quartzone deposits.

Lake Illawarra is now almost completely surrounded by residential development and is subsequently showing signs of environmental stress.

Past agricultural development in the Dapto/Koonawarra area has lead to significant reduction in the type and amount of native vegetation which protects the landscape. There are no large areas of native vegetation remaining in Koonawarra.

Peripheral dredging of the lake has occurred at Koonawarra Bay with general bay deepening and tree de-snagging to improve the waterway for water-based activities also occurring. "Koonawarra Bay, particularly in the north west corner, was a lost resource as far as commercial fishing was concerned. It was extremely degraded and extremely silted. That area of the lake in 1991 after cleaning up and dredging, removing the silt, produced prawns for the first time in 20 years. Something that had never happened before. Now if you go there and have a look it is a seagrass meadow that has never been there before either. Seagrass in that area increased by 30%." (Lake Illawarra Authority Report 1996, p. 45)

Bird species prevalent on Koonawarra Bay include:
-Pelicans
-Black Herons
-Black Cormorants
-Seagulls
-Black Swans
-Ducks
-Spoonbills
-Plumed Egret
-Marsh Crakes

See also Dapto history page and Kanahooka history page