Refresh Vaucluse and Diamond Bay project: Environment groups maintain opposition to project location at Parsley Bay

Long standing plans to solve a major sewage outflow problem at a harbourside suburb through building a new sewage plant has been put back under the microscope by environmental experts.

Parsley Bay, Vaucluse. Picture: John Grainger.

Fresh fears have emerged that the $85m project to construct pumping stations to stop raw sewage flowing into the harbour at Dover Heights, Vaucluse and Diamond Bay could come at a cost to the area’s unique environment.

Experts – including academics and environmental groups – along with concerned residents, have claimed existing environmental assessments had not adequately shown how the natural environment at the harbour park and beach would be protected during construction.

The Refresh Vaucluse and Diamond Bay project will use funding secured by former Vaucluse MP Gabrielle Upton to divert the sewage which currently spews untreated into the ocean from the state’s three last remaining outfalls to the Bondi Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The project – set to stop as much as four million litres of raw sewage released daily into the ocean between Bondi Beach and South Head – will see two sewage pump stations constructed at Eastern Ave Reserve and Parsley Bay Reserve as well as 3km of new wastewater pipelines and an upgrade of existing infrastructure.

A Sydney Water website for the project acknowledges the project was “challenging” but states it was “the right thing to do” to “fix this problem once and for all”.

Parsley Bay Vaucluse. Picture: John Grainger.

A 2020 Review of Environmental Factors report found refreshing the wastewater system in Vaucluse and Diamond Bay would improve the harbour and coastal water quality and protect the health of the community and marine ecology, with the construction expected in early 2024.

Parsley Bay was determined to be a “critical location” according to Sydney Water where three key pipes that funnel wastewater intersect underground, meaning the pump station must be constructed there to redirect the water to the Bondi treatment plant.

Artist impression of the proposed design for a new amenities block at Parsley Bay. The old block will be replaced by a pump station. Picture: Woollahra Council.

However letters to Sydney Water from National Parks Association of NSW chief executive Gary Dunnett and Macquarie University Biology research fellow Dr. Robert M. Kooyman shared with this publication showed outstanding concerns about how Parsley Bay’s environmental protection would be secured.

Mr Dunnett said the environmental review had not discussed or made any provision in relation to “compensation for the loss of habitat resulting from the proposal”.

Mr Kooyman said the community had not been provided with information from the flora and fauna surveys conducted as part of the approvals process, leading him to assess that surveys undertaken may have been “inadequate” given the “identified conservation values of the site and area”, including potential rainforest and native plants and animals.

National Parks Association branch president David Stead, part of a community group which had raised concerns about the project, said the group wanted the environmental review to be redone.

Parsley Bay, Vaucluse. Picture: John Appleyard.

“Any contractor who is being engaged will rely on that document for any of their planned management activities,” Mr Stead said.

Group member Nicole McMahon criticised two years of community consultation undertaken by Sydney Water, but said recent engagement with the community group had been positive.

Ms McMahon said she had not yet seen a response to the community’s requests.

“It appears that no action has been taken to address any of the community’s concerns,” she said.

Vaucluse MP and Shadow Environment Minister Kellie Sloane said she had met with residents to hear their concerns and had been briefed on the project by Sydney Water and Woollahra Council.

Ms Sloane said the untreated wastewater pouring into the ocean via the Vaucluse and Diamond Bay outfalls every day was an “unacceptable situation”.

“Our community is the last place in NSW where this is occurring,” she said.

A Sydney Water spokesman said it would continue to consult local residents and community groups of the pumping station development at Parsley Bay.

The spokesman said any residual effect on native vegetation and trees would be offset in accordance with the Sydney Water Biodiversity Offset Guide.

“We are committed to minimising environmental impact and working closely with Woollahra Council and a local bush care group to prepare a revegetation landscape plan,” the spokesman said.