DISGRUNTLED: Kevin Bullen stand besides the silt trap behind his home at Macquarie Hills.
A MACQUARIE Hills resident has slammed Lake Macquarie City Council's plans to spend more than $1 million to improve floodplains and estuaries.
Last week The Star reported that state and local government funds will be pooled into studies to analyse problematic spots in Jewells, Dora Creek, Glendale, Cardiff and Charlestown.
Kevin Bullen, who worked for Lake Macquarie council as a park supervisor for 40 years, said the organisation had a poor track record when it came to water flow management into the lake.
Mr Bullen said drainage problems at the back of his property on Granada Avenue, Macquarie Hills, were an ongoing saga, and the council's intervention was making it worse.
He said the council's efforts to filter water that ran into Lake Macquarie from Macquarie Hills was ineffective.
"The entire catchment of Macquarie Hills runs through two pipes at my back doorstep. The creek floods every time we get torrential rain," he said.
Mr Bullen said the council's silt catchment system was useless and needed to be moved 10 metres downstream.
He also said any mulch scattered around plants in the area by the council quickly ended up in the stream after rain and blocked the waterway.
Lake Macquarie City Council has spent about $600,000 on the site over the past five years, building a gross pollutant trap and wetland basin, as well as removing noxious weeds.
A council spokesperson said the council believed the works were effective and were an important component of the council's water quality improvement program.
"These works improve the water quality downstream in Winding Creek particularly for fine sediments and nutrients as well as providing some additional flood storage volume," the council spokesperson said.
The council spokesperson said no more works were planned for water management off Granada Ave, Macquarie Hills in the near future.