SUNSHINE Coast Council was yesterday busy excavating a new channel to reopen Currimundi Lake to the sea following a successful program to flood the local biting midge habitat.

Council’s environment portfolio holder, Division Three Councillor Keryn Jones, said today’s preliminary works will move the bulk of the sand and enable Council to quickly reopen the channel early today(9 October, at around 7am).

“By timing the work during the run-out tide we should gain about four or five hours to lower the water level before the tide works its way back into the system,” Cr Jones said.

“Lowering the lake on an outgoing tide should also create a fairly deep and wide channel which hopefully will remain open and provide a good flush for the waterway.”

The annual closure of the lake is part of Council’s Biting Midge Control Program and is timed to flood the midge habitat and disrupt the breeding cycle as much as possible.

Council’s most recent tests found the temporary closure of the lake reduced the local biting midge menace by more than 90%.

“This week’s results found an average of only 17 larvae per square metre, a huge reduction on the average of 219 larvae per square metre that were present when the lake was closed six weeks ago,” Cr Jones said.

She said Council will monitor the lake for any potential erosion or siltation issues following today’s reopening.