Rivers, creeks and waterways
In an urban landscape like Canterbury-Bankstown, water is critical to quality of life.
Without adequate water, vegetation and trees cannot grow, street and parks are too hot in summer and native animals cannot thrive.
Love our waterways
Floodplain and stormwater management
Environmental programs and initiatives
Clean waterways
A catchment is the area of land that drains into a waterway. Gravity causes all rain and run-off in the catchment to run downhill where it naturally collects in creeks, rivers or oceans. In natural areas rainwater is absorbed into the landscape by plants, trees and soil, filling the groundwater system (underground water). In an urban river catchment such as our Canterbury-Bankstown, most surfaces are hard and impermeable. Rainwater runs off roofs, roads and footpaths becoming stormwater which picks up pollution and debris along the way.
Our City is part of three greater catchment areas, with water flowing into the Cooks, Georges and Parramatta rivers. These catchment areas comprise 31%, 60% and 9% of our total area respectively.
A map of all our catchment areas, including the names of stormwater sub-catchments and key points of interest like railway lines and major roads is shown below.
Council conducts environmental improvement works and programs at many sites within our catchment to improve river and catchment health. This includes stormwater management projects, installing pollution control devices and implementing water sensitive urban design (WSUD). It also includes programs like the Get the Site Right compliance campaign, targeting sediment and erosion control on building and development sites.
CBCity and Sydney Water jointly manage three floating litter booms and traps in the Cooks River, at Boat Harbour, Canterbury, Fifth Avenue, Campsie and another at Croydon Avenue, Croydon Park. The litter booms direct litter floating on or just below the surface into the trap, where it is captured and cleaned fortnightly by Sydney Water contractors.
In 2025 the three litter booms removed over 1,200 cubic metres of litter, sediment and vegetation from the Cooks River, or more than 3,600 large wheelie bins.
If you notice any maintenance issues with the traps, you can report it to Council on our report it page. If you notice the traps are full and need cleaning, please contact Sydney Water directly on 13 20 92.
Water sensitive urban design (WSUD) is water management that seeks to replicate the natural water cycle in urban areas. WSUD can:
- Protect our waterways by capturing, treating and productively using rainwater and stormwater before it enters our rivers.
- Prevent or reduce flooding in targeted locations.
- Reduce run off volume. The large amount of hard surfaces in cities mean that water cannot infiltrate the ground and enters creeks at a high rate causing erosion of creek beds.
- Reduce potable water use. Minimising the use of drinking water for things other than drinking through water efficient fixtures, rainwater tanks and enabling water reuse (rainwater, stormwater and greywater).
- Provide wildlife habitat.
- Create public open space, recreational opportunities and visual amenity that enhance and improve the look and feel of urban areas.
Examples of WSUD include rainwater tanks, porous pavements, raingardens, green roofs, bioretention systems, swales, constructed wetlands and stormwater harvesting systems. Many of these elements can be found across our City.
What is Council doing?
CBCity is including WSUD controls into our updated Canterbury-Bankstown Development Control Plan to improve environmental sustainability and reduce flooding across our City.
Council is also an active, paying member of the three catchment management groups representing our three major catchments, being the Cooks River Alliance, Georges Riverkeeper and Parramatta River Catchment Group. Council is currently working with these groups on the development of coastal management programs (CMPs). CMPs are forward-facing strategic documents for managing coastal hazards and improving environmental and community amenity for the entire catchment. These documents will outline strategies for the 10 years following their certification by the NSW Government.
Catchment management groups are leading delivery of the CMP’s, but the documents will be owned by the relevant member councils, allowing each council to potentially apply for and receive funding for restoring waterway health.
CMPs are majority-funded through the NSW Coastal and Estuary Grants Program and their development is in close partnership with the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
Each CMP is divided into five stages:
Water quality devices (WQDs)
City of Canterbury Bankstown has more than 100 water quality devices (WQDs) which allow us to protect our local waterways by reducing pollution and flooding. These include visible WQDs like floating litter booms, less visible, underground pollution control devices, as well as wetlands and open water bodies which have a less visible role in reducing pollution.
Each device is effective for different types of pollutants and all devices are cleaned and maintained on a frequently audited schedule. Maintenance of our WQDs is spread between internal units and external contractors.
If you see a visible pollution event such as an oil or chemical spill, or a large amount of litter in one of our waterways, report it here.
A floating barrier angled across the water course, which is designed to collect litter and retain oil floating on the water surface. CBCity has more than 12 booms, mostly smaller devices capturing litter in creeks and channels, but also has three large floating litter booms in the Cooks River.
Beds of wetland plants such as reeds which remove nutrients from stormwater. These are usually low-lying swales of reeds planted in parks.
There are many different types, including above-ground trash racks and underground devices, but they all provide a filter for stormwater as they collect litter, oil, organic matter and sediment.
We have built many bio-retention systems in CBCity to reduce stormwater pollution and enhance biodiversity. They are designed with different depths and native wetland and aquatic plants which allow sediment and excess nutrients to be removed from the water. Stormwater enters the system from the street and cleaner water exits the other side. Some examples are at Sefton Golf Course and Maluga Passive Park, both in the Duck River sub-catchment.
Lakes can also be considered a pollution control device as they retain and filter sediments and nutrients from stormwater. Unfortunately, this function also produces ideal conditions for weed growth and algal blooms.
Street trees with absorbent pits and pipes allowing rain and storm water to flow in and be absorbed by specific native trees used to having ‘wet feet’ such as Paperbark species. These tree pits reduce stormwater run-off, improving water quality flowing into our rivers.
Waterway health
CBCity conducts various waterway health activities, such as:
- Water quality monitoring – Regularly monitoring 18 sites across Canterbury-Bankstown, including 15 open water bodies and 6 waterway sites in Georges River tributaries.
You can view the water quality monitoring 2025-26 annual report using the link below, including detailed results from all sampled sites.
CBCity Water Quality Monitoring 2025-26 Annual Report - Get the Site Right – A building site compliance program led by Parramatta River Catchment Group which focuses on sediment control, preventing tonnes of soil and spill ending up in our rivers. CBCity actively inspects building sites year-round, but increases the frequency of inspections and enforcement fines during Get the Site Right blitz weeks.
Results of Get the Site Right are published on Council media channels and on the Get the Site Right homepage. - Water quality device maintenance and upgrades – Proactive audits and a maintenance register of our more than 100 water quality devices (WQDs) have been completed, allowing many upgrades to their function and improvement of water quality. Upgrades include improving oxygenation of water, scheduling regular sediment removal from ponds and pipes, replacing riparian vegetation and repairing mechanical
The Cooks River Alliance is a partnership between organisations in the Cooks River Catchment, including Bayside Council, City of Canterbury Bankstown, Inner West Council, Strathfield Council and Sydney Water. The purpose of the Cooks River Alliance is to facilitate catchment management for the Cooks River by sharing resources of its member organisations and coordinating them to this purpose.
The Cooks River Alliance is creating a catchment-wide masterplan. The first step is the creation of an interactive catchment map, showing all of the plans and proposals to improve the catchment. Explore the catchment map here.
For more information, visit their website.
Georges Riverkeeper is the catchment management organisation for the Georges River catchment, with nine member councils including City of Canterbury Bankstown and partnerships with key state government bodies like NSW Maritime, Corrective Services NSW, Sydney Water and the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water.
The Georges Riverkeeper leads collaborative action to protect and improve the health of the Georges River catchment, through their many proactive programs including the Catchment Actions Program, removing around 100 tonnes of waste from the catchment annually.
You can view their interactive catchment maps here, showing swim spots, bushwalks, boat ramps, river health monitoring grades and more.
Their resource library also includes previous river health report cards and other Georges River strategies.
They also lead strategic direction for the entire Georges River catchment, releasing the Georges River Strategic Plan 2026-2030 and leading development of the Georges River Estuary Coastal Management Program.
Parramatta River Catchment Group (PRCG) is the catchment management organisation for the Parramatta River catchment. CBCity contains a small section of the Duck River, a major tributary of the Parramatta River catchment, with the headwaters beginning at the intersection of Edgar Street and Marion Street in Condell Park and stretching north to Birrong.