Recycled sewerage water ... you're already drinking it
Matthew Benns June 11, 2006
SYDNEYSIDERS are drinking water from recycled sewage despite the State
Government's commitment that such recycling was not part of its supply
plans.
It has also been revealed that upgrade work to sewage treatment plants in
the Southern Highlands has led to raw waste being pumped into the rivers
that fill Sydney's main water reservoir, the Warragamba Dam.
The Department of Environment and Conservation has vowed to investigate the
claims and spokesman John Dengate said: "We are very concerned and will be
investigating precisely what went on."
A contractor, who worked at the sewage treatment plant in Bowral, has raised
the alarm over the dirty water because he fears it could lead to a health
epidemic.
Terry Fitzgerald, who worked as a contractor laying the pipe that feeds
treated sewage into the Wingecarribee River, said that, during 12 months of
upgrade work to the sewage treatment plant, which ended in February this
year, raw sewage had been pumped into the river.
"I saw it overflow once because of an error and the raw sewage went down
into the river," he said.
The new pipeline goes through land owned by software developer Les Pongrass.
"They have been pumping recycled sewage into the Sydney water supply via the
Mittagong Rivulet through our property for years," he said.
At times raw sewage was pumped into the river. "You can't swim in the river
now," he said.
State Utilities Minister David Campbell said: "I am advised the only
incident that the Bowral Sewage Treatment Plant team was aware of was an
incident that occurred on September 22, 2005.
"In that incident, a discharge of turbid water, not sewage, went into
Macquarie Rivulet, a tributary of the Wingecarribee River, during
open-trenching construction of a pipeline creek crossing by a subcontractor.
"Creek water was diverted by pumping from the trench as the pipeline was
laid, but the water was directed into the creek immediately downstream of
the trench instead of across a grassed area to filter the water."
He also confirmed that treated water does flow into the Sydney water supply.
"A number of sewage treatment plants currently discharge treated effluent
into local waterways within the Warragamba Dam Catchment.
"The flow from these plants would represent less than 1 per cent of the
average flow into Warragamba Dam.
"Warragamba Dam, when full, contains enough water to supply four years'
supply to Sydney," he said.
A spokeswoman for the Sydney Catchment Authority said the Bowral Sewage
Treatment Plant had been upgraded as part of a $20 million overhaul of
Sydney's water supply.
She said the Bowral upgrade "significantly" improved water quality in the
Wingecarribee River.
