Baird’s plan to send sewage into Sydney Harbour is a stinker

The State Government is set for a return to the Victorian era when it starts work on a host of overflow pipes that will pump raw waste into our waterways.

Sewer Pipe

• READ THE FULL STORY ABOUT THE SEWAGE PLAN HERE

THE good old days really were never that good. ­Before the advent of modern sewerage systems, the world’s cities were filthy places.

London is now a glittering global capital, but in past centuries it was a disease-ridden, slum-dominated open sewer of a town, where residents commonly disposed of waste simply by throwing it out of ­windows or pitching it into the nearest waterway.

A map showing the new overflow pipe locations

Various pandemics were eventually blamed on these revoltingly unsanitary practices, leading to the development of proper waste-­disposal methods.

Many areas of Sydney, too, were dominated by crowded slums with appalling sanitation records.

But those days are all in the past.

Or are they? As The Daily Telegraph today reveals, the state government is ­returning to Victorian-era sewerage outfalls, with work about to start on overflow pipes that will spill untreated effluent ­directly into some of the state’s most pristine waterways, including Sydney Harbour. Understandably, residents living near Drummoyne Wharf, where the first of the new overflow pipes is about to be installed, are furious.

They already deal with raw sewage inundating their homes during storms. According to a Sydney Water spokesman, the new pipe at Drummoyne Wharf is expected to overflow only “twice per year”.
 Well, isn’t that lovely?

Nearby residents can enjoy the experience of living in Sydney in the 19th century every six months on average. They must be delighted.

Surely it must be possible in 2016 to devise a better system — even one intended to operate only in ­extreme conditions — than simply pitching everything into the water following minimal screening.

This should not be the way a modern city operates.

A private citizen can expect to be fined for discarding a pie wrapper or soft drink bottle in the street. That is how it should be — littering is an offence, and those who befoul our streets deserve punishment.

Residents of Drummoyne are unhappy about Sydney Water's plan to build a new sewer outlet at the end of St Georges Cresent.

But how does that square with a government prepared to do much worse by discarding waste into our Harbour and waterways? The scale of wrongdoing here is far greater.

“They will be polluting the Parramatta River like they did 100 years ago,” resident Dr Malcolm Wong said. “Sydney Water should come up with a better solution.

“The present drains and pumps are already not coping with sewage from existing properties.”

Dr Wong is correct. This is an ancient plan fit only for an ancient city