Premier Gladys Berejiklian pledges to stop flow of untreated waste into Tasman Sea off Bondi
MORE than a century after NSW started sending wastewater into the ocean just kilometres from Bondi Beach, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has pledged to plug the daily flow from 10,500 homes of untreated waste that includes soiled nappies and wipes.
NSW
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THE tap on four million litres of raw sewage pumped into the ocean just kilometres from Bondi Beach every day will finally be turned off.
More than a century after NSW started sending untreated wastewater into the Tasman Sea from Sydney’s eastern suburbs, via three pipelines, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has pledged to plug the pollution.
Untreated waste, including soiled nappies and wipes from 10,500 residents and businesses, is being dumped daily at Vaucluse and Diamond Bay (Dover Heights) with the issue creating a stink for decades.
The pipes are the final three statewide that send untreated waste into the ocean and Ms Berejiklian yesterday said her government would spend $86 million to redirect the pipes to the Bondi Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Construction will start next year with the flow of sewage to be finally switched off by the end of 2020.
The rest of NSW’s sewage is treated at wastewater plants and pumped out through outfalls located several kilometres out to sea.
While Bondi Beach retains a “good” rating in the latest Beachwatch audit, a Sydney Water report earlier this year cited “visible plumes” from the raw sewage outlets. The report noted “occasional wastewater odour detected near the outfalls”.
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Pumping stations are required to push waste to the outfall closest to South Head and services and 290 hectares with waste coming from Vaucluse, Rose Bay, Watsons Bay and Dover Heights.
The outfalls at Diamond Bay service smaller areas of 39 hectares and 27 hectares respectively.
It estimated up to 2000 people, including scuba divers and rock fishermen, came into contact with the sewage, with a “high” public health risk, and that “wipes and plastics were accumulating on the sea floor”.
Those spear fishing say they eat the fish and molluscs caught near where the waste comes out.
Sydney Water also said in its report that not only does the waste come from local residents but from tourists visiting the Watsons Bay Hotel, Doyles Restaurant, HMAS Watson and the Gap Bluff Centre.
Testing of the discharge found “high levels of fats, grease and oils, and suspended solids, at a value greater than the typical level for high strength domestic wastewater”, the report said.
“We want to get cracking on fixing a legacy issue that’s been around for too long. It’s been talked about for a long time,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Vaucluse MP and Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton said the problem had “been in the too hard basket for too long”.
Coogee MP Bruce Notley-Smith warned it would be 10 years before “we see a complete recovery of the marine environment”.
“Although it’s not showing up on our beaches, the fact is it’s affecting the marine environment between Bondi Beach and the entrance to Sydney Harbour,” he said.