The recent deluge highlighted a 'set and forget' approach to restricting soil run-off construction sites washing into the city's waterways, Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said.
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At Monday night's council meeting he also said construction companies had a "moral obligation" to restrict any run-off from their sites.
Cr Bradbery was speaking to his motion calling for greater vigilance from construction companies about the need to monitor sediment during wet weather.
While he said most companies did the right thing, his motion was to "encourage a responsible and consistent approach to this problem".
"It does concern me that there does seem to be an attitude that we do it once and we walk away," Cr Bradbery said.
"Building sites aren't continually monitored, especially in rain events. I've watched two locations in recent times and in both, they're still left in the same condition they were after last Monday's deluge."
Cr Bradbery mentioned sites in Urunga Parade, Wollongong, and Lake Avenue at Cringila, where soil has been washed out of the site.
He said council staff shouldn't have to be "continually bringing these people into order".
"This is a moral obligation on the part of those who have stripped the land in the first place, an obligation to think beyond their immediate building site and its implications for the rest of the community."
The issue was highlighted by the incident in March that saw clay and soil run-off from a construction site at Wombarra washed into the ocean.
"Of course it's been brought to our attention the situation in Wombarra but that's been multiplied many, many times in the last week or so I think it needs to be tightened up by being brought to the attention of the construction industry," he said.
Cr Bradbery's motion passed unanimously, with the addition of a call for the state government to review the penalties for sediment run-off.
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Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
