The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has fined Sydney Water a total of $30,000 for two sewage overflows which reached Sydney waterways.
At a sewage pumping station in Fairfield, approximately 504,000 litres of raw sewage discharged from a leaking sewer line on 6 November 2019, flowing into Orphan School Creek. The EPA has issued a $15,000 penalty notice to Sydney Water for the alleged water pollution caused by this incident.
EPA Director Regulatory Operations Giselle Howard said that prior to the incident, Sydney Water had failed to appropriately inspect and maintain the sewer line that caused the overflow.
“Untreated sewage can pose a risk to human health and have significant environmental impacts on waterways and land,” Ms Howard said.
“It is an offence under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 to pollute waterways. The sewage pollution from this incident was allegedly caused by Sydney Water’s inadequate management of its sewer assets.”
The second penalty notice of $15,000, followed Sydney Water’s clean-up of a sewage overflow at Menai on 21 October 2019 which affected two unnamed creeks. In this instance, Sydney Water is alleged to have failed to adequately clean up the overflow.
“During this incident, we consider that Sydney Water failed to clean-up the raw sewage as promptly as they needed to. Sydney Water is required to take all necessary actions following a sewage overflow to minimise impact on the environment and public health,” Ms Howard said.
The EPA has previously issued fines of $195,000 to Sydney Water for allegedly failing to adequately respond to dry weather sewage overflows from its sewerage systems from November 2017 to September 2018. The EPA is currently prosecuting Sydney Water for a number of other alleged sewage related overflow incidents in the Sydney area.
As a result, the EPA added special conditions to each of Sydney Water’s 23 sewage treatment system environment protection licences, requiring an independent assessment of Sydney Water’s overarching management and operational framework for responding to dry weather sewage overflows. Sydney Water is implementing recommendations to improve its clean-up response.
Penalty notices are one of a number of tools the EPA can use to achieve environmental compliance, including formal warnings, licence conditions, notices and directions, mandatory audits, legally binding pollution reduction programs, enforceable undertakings and prosecutions.
