Time is up: Final Review

(the great sewage hunt is over)

I feel I chose a really difficult topic to tackle, although I enjoyed the process I felt frustrated as there was so much information available that it was overwhelming.

I am still sure that the water was brown on Anzac Day and I wonder, is there the odd occasion when sewage slips through the net untreated? Unfortunately on this occasion I can prove nothing.

I also found a lot of positive things I was not expecting about recent improvements in water quality. This sent my article in a direction that I did not originally expect.

I can see why Investigative journalism is not so common, as you can really spend hours sitting at a big brown table in the corner of an environment centre (a random example) and read and dig and search and collect a huge amount of information which does not really help your story, or complicates your story further. Worst of all, you find out there is no story!!!

Interviewing the Sydney Water rep was interesting as they were very skilled at being defensive while seeming really friendly. Every time I came off the phone, I thought wow he just got his own way again, but what a nice guy! But it was a good experience.

So anyway it is done!!!!...I may not. however. be able to resist the odd peak at the water colour on very rainy days!...the seed of suspision has been planted.

Photo Gallery

just a few of the images i liked from a nice day at the 'pipe'

Source portfolio

All information is logged here in the blog, but just to make it easier i will devote this blog to my sources:

online sources:
http://www.csiro.au/science/psan.html

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/beach/ar2003/sydneymetrop-

http://sutherland.nsw.gov.au/ssc/home.nsf/WebPages/AD9F1DF91EF6AE8DCA257228001D3B21?OpenDocument&Expand=2

http://www.cwwt.unsw.edu.au/ywp2006/papers/YWP%204.1.pdf

http://www.eicc.bio.usyd.edu.au/pubs/?DB=pubs&id=252

http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2006am/techprogram/P24484.HTM

http://www.biolytix.com/index.php

http://www.environment.gov.au/portal/search.php?query=Sewage

http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/PARLMENT/hansArt.nsf/5f584b237987507aca256d09008051f3/201cc8630fb83d90ca256d5e001f1e3a!OpenDocument

http://www.sydneywater.com.au/

http://www.sydneywater.com.au/EnsuringtheFuture/Desalination/

The list really could go on.


Interviews;
Ross Law (Sydney Water)
Linda Roy (EPA)
Kristy Owen (Sutherland Council)
Julie Nimmo (Sutherland Council)
Guy Amos (Sutherland Council)
Tom Biasetto (Triple Bull Surf Shop)
Brook Mitchell (Surfer)
Mathew Donaldson (Surfer)
Leane Filipas ( Environmental projects - Bankstown Council)
Representative - Sutherland Shire Environmental Centre.
Representative - Pro-dive Cronulla.

Hard Copy Sources:

Sydney Water (1996), Environmental Impact Statement Statement (EIS) Cronulla Sewage Treatment Plant Upgrade.
Sydney Water (1996), Environmental Impact Statement Statement (EIS) Cronulla Sewage Treatment Plant Upgrade. (Indexes)
Sutherland St George - Leader.

................................................................................................

title ideas

I am really tempted to go with;

waaaater waste......get it

What a waste becomes Waaater waaste !!!!!

Ok so it is not very clever, maybe i will stick with 'surfing pipe'

Runnin gout of Research time!!!

This is a little note dedicated to all those people who alluded me over the last few weeks: i wish i could have got a short interview or just comment from:

• A representative from the Department of Water and Energy


• My local MP


• A comment form the Sutherland Shire Mayor.
  
• some fish!
• The Bra Boys...just because (i called a rep and ..well yeah i don't think i was going to happen)
• SURFING ASSOCIATION (really annoyed i didn't get on to that one)
• Some engineers who work on desalination in the UK ...ie Dad's friends and my Brother's friends (family of engineers..sad really)
• Dog (Richard Marsh....x professional surfer...just didn't get the chance to see him. I am pretty sure he would chat with me.
• many many more......but i am getting annoyed now!

Interviewing Sydney water

My friend Ross!!
ross.law@sydneywater.com.au
0419258754

Ross Law, was my contact in the communications department of Sydney Water. He was great in the way that he spoke to me while he was sitting in traffic, and i even spoke to him at home once as he had broken his leg!!!

But i could not seem to get him to answer the questions straight....he was very good (Dam communications department) at avoiding what i was actually saying...which was a little annoying to say the least, but he was really nice...so mmmm yeah anyway moving on!

in the end the main information that i got out of him was that :

Sydney Water did not have a time line (That they wanted to share with me) on how long the Cronulla STP would be sufficient to service the population.

He stressed that they had capacity for four times their dry weather flow, but he had little to say when i mentioned the times they have over flowed. He explained that it would not happen again, but could give little reason why this would not happen again, apart from the fact that in the event they would face a heavy fine!

His exact words when i asked why the water was brown on Anzac day were...mmmmm mmmm mmm well i woudl have to se a scientific report on that......

So although i know the water was brown, i have no way of proving it as sadly we have no image, so really i could not chase this up, as all he said was well no it should be clear so i don't know why your though you saw that.

He did tell me that although the Cronulla STP and the desalination plant were really close there was no plans EVER of connecting them or recycling ...or something. He also informed me that the desalination plant would not effect the STP's work flow at all which i thought was strange. Does that mean that all of the liquids dealt with at the desal will go back into the ocean?....

The interview went over a couple of days, andi still struggled ot get him to answer me but i tried i really tried.

I have come to the conclusion that my story is going to have a cross focus on the desal and the STP and the waste of money and energy involved in having two plants which complete a process done under one roof in many countries around the world and with little environmental impact!

OK NOW I AM LOSING IT!!!!!

I am now having an information overload, although my article began focused on the dodgie brown water pumping out at the Potter Point Outfall despite the fact that the water should be discharged clear form that outfall if it being correctly treated and processed.

But there has been so much over information: The desalination plant looks set to have its own effects on the surf environment in that area, and more to the point it is just so ridiculous. The Sydney Water plans show that the inlet for the Desal will be within a kilometre or so from the Sewage outfall.....why cant they just recycle the bloody sewage to the pottable level and drink it like the rest of the world it would save a lot of money and energy and unknown risk to the natural environment..........the more i read the more annoyed i am getting that this is going ahead.....(i know journos are meant to be balanced though ...ops!)

Linda Roy from the EPA or DECC

Linda gave a really interesting interview explaining about the licensing processes for Sydney Water. Sydney Water are not answerable to the Department of Environment and conservation, unless they fail to meet standards through negligence.

they do however issue the license to Sydney Water under which there are conditions by which the plants have to be managed. each license is separate and so the desalination plant would have a separate one to the Cronulla STP....mmm interesting

Linda also gave me some really interesting information on the EPA's recommendations on the reuse of effluent.

recycling the sewage

They promised that an upgraded plant would make greater use of non-potable
water—that is, non-drinkable, recycled water—on parks and golf courses and in
industry.Nine years after the initial announcement, no viable commercial markets
have been found for recycled water from the sewage treatment plant

Malcolm Kerr, 1/12/05...................interesting.

Sydney Water together with Sutherland Council are just starting get this going...they are now actually using water from STP on Shark Park and Woolooware Golf Course.....took a while eh!?

Continuing to Hassle Sutherland Council

Another person from Sutherland Council gave me some useful information about the population projections for the next 12 years, which was really useful as i could only find projections over smaller periods of time else where. Kristy Owen (97100617)

Sutherland Shire Population Forecast
1999
211782

2011
231593.......This is the number i am interested in.....its a lot!! is this really not going to effect the sewage infrastructure????

2019
241264









Source: ABS Population Projection 2002

Sutherland Council interviews

Sutherland Council were really helpful. A lady called Julie Nimmo (97100683) she explained that the information they had received from Sydney water in regard to the life span of the Cronulla STP as it currently is. She thought it was prepared to deal with population up to $250,000, which differs from the information in the EIS projections when the upgrade was planned...mmmm?

International comparison

The eco impact of desalination plants is an unknown. Because there effects are very hard to measure, and are often also very specific to the site. however by reading an interview with a dude from the Californian surf riding association about the problems highlighted in America i have found some potential problems for our surf spot!

• Desals use water as coolant and then pump it out into the ocean warm which kills marine life.
• Those creatures who can nit survive high salinity move away form the outlet pipe, and then other creatures move in...normally scavengers which feed on all the dead things which have been fed through the plant and discharged!

there is much more talked about ...check out the above link.

Desal...are we just sucking in what we just pumped out...surely there is an easier way?

just in case you missed the media frenzy about desalination a year or so ago this article 'Desalination: take the plunge?' on the ABC website gives a great all round picture of the debate.

Basically: it makes clean water! as much as you want.....for the small price of AD$2 bil and 906 gigawatt hours of electricity a year, and some major ecological threats to marine life, wetlands and ocean water quality. ...

So an interesting one, and it seems an idea which currently is just quietly slipping under the doors of public discussion.

The Sydney Water website informs that as of the 25 of May a preferred tender for the construction of the pipeline to carry desalinated water from Kurnell across Botany Bay has been established. Furthermore, as of the 23 May works have begun on site at Kurnell, in preparation for the planning approval expected to be received in July 07!!!!!!

Riiiight, all that protesting on the part of the local residents and the Councils' disapproval was some what ignored!...for all the Sydney Water style detail on the proposed plans for the Desal check out their sea water to drinking water fact sheet ...it has some great pics of how close the inlet pipe is to the Potters Point Outlet. !!

What do the Surfers think?

Cronulla is a surf sellout.....everyone surfs. At the centre of this activity is the large surf shop on the main street as you drive down to the beach: Triple Bull. The owner of the shop is Richard 'Dog' Marsh who made a name for himself on the Pro circuit a few years ago. He does not compete anymore but he is still central to the Cronulla surfing community, and currently runs a learn to surf academy with fellow professional surfer Blake Johnston. Both Blake and Richard surf the Voodoo break. (however it is not a break used for the surf school ..well duh!)

A rep from Triple Bull, Tom Beazado, said that he and his friends had really terrible experiences at the Voodoo break before the 2001 upgrade of the STP:

"it just really smelt, and about six of my Friends got sick after we surfed there" Tom said

"Dog has told me that it was always really bad before before 2001. But i mean you can't surf there real often cos the wind and the conditions have to be just right. But the times i have surfed there more recently the water has been so much better....the smell for one thing is no where near a bad. You used to be able to smell it from here in Cronulla. but yeah i have seen fish around and it seems a lot cleaner" he said.

Brook Mitchell an ex-employee of Tripple Bull has a slightly less positive view of the break:

"When you walk down to the water the area is just so run down and dirty, so it doesn't really feel like a clean place before you get into the water. I have only lived here since 2005 so i can not compare it to before the upgrade, but it is not the cleanest place to surf. i guess it just smells a bit and the water sometimes has a tinge to it" He said

" The wind direction might make a difference but you would only surf it when the wind is offshore anyway"Brook said.

Surf website SurfForecast : warns surfers to watch out for crowds, rocks, rips and POLLUTION.

so a mixed bag......its not Tahiti crystal clear and pollution free but it is not the old wreaking ses pool of pre upgrade Voodoo.

Back to the important stuff - Recreation

We know that there has been an upgrade that it has in the past and may or may not currently overflow. We know that what is usually discharged from the upgraded plant is clear liquid, which is monitored under national and international guidelines. ...........

So what about the people who the water quality is monitored for. ..... and i have to say here we are referring to people who use the water near the Outfall at Potter Point rather than people who are swimming back on the Cronulla beaches.

before we get on to surfers.....lets talk tot people who get right under the water and up close and close and personal with the outfall!.... Scuba Divers:

Michael Mcfayden runs a well respected scuba website which several scuba diving shops referred me to look at. on his website he suggests that like the fishes, divers are returning to the dive sites around the Potter Point Outfall. Despite the sewage stigma, the upgrade has made it a good place to dive and see natural beauty!!!!:

"As far as I know, very few, if any, commercial dive boats dive the area south of the entrance to the Bay down to the northern side of Bate Bay (this is the bay in front of Cronulla and Wanda Beaches). The reason for this is that the Cronulla Sewage Treatment works used to dump basically raw sewage into the ocean at Potter Point, the northern-most part of Bate Bay. However, this sewerage works now treats the sewage to tertiary standard and the "stuff" dumped into the ocean is now of a very good quality. In addition, there are a number of other outlets in this section of coastline. These include outlets from the oil refinery at Kurnell. These outlets are located at Tabbagai Gap, about half way between the two bays. As far as I know, these outlets now dump a better quality waste into the ocean.

As such, during the 1980s and 1990s this section of coast was not a place that many divers wanted to visit. However, now that the waste being dumped from these outlets is much cleaner, the dive sites along here really beg to be dived. "

So Michael obviously sees the huge improvement in the water quality. He is loving the tertiary treated effluent...loving it!

Having spoken with a representative from Pro-Dive Cronulla, i found out that Michael's opinion was not a one off. (95442200) Cronulla Street

: "we get really good clear water around there, in fact it is a great dive. I haven't been diving here long enough to remember the water before the sewage works was upgraded, but i know that now it is a popular dive. W are really worried however about the impact of the desalination plant....If they start sucking water in from the same area i think it will really damage the life down there"

It is clear that the water for recreation is dramatically better....but isn't it weird thinking that if the water is so good and it is being pumped out into the ocean there......and the desalination plant will be on the same peninsular....sucking water back in to spend lots of money and energy taking the salt out....what the bloody hell are we doing!!!! I think i will have to do some more research about the desal plant as well....It all seems so waste full.

Monitoring water quality .....who how when

It is all very well talking about cleaner beaches and safer swim conditions but who tests this and how. What are the restrictions or guidelines under which Sydney water work?

For some general knowledge i approached a Environmental Projects Officer form Bankstown City Council...... i just thought i should give Sutherland Council a break as i think i will be hassling them again soon!

Deana Filipas : deana.filipas@bankstown.nsw.gov.au

i asked her (referring to the water quality assessment i read earlier) which guidelines does the STP work to as it originally follow water monitoring guidelines set out by the National Health and medical research council (NHMRC) from 1995. However, these guidelines have been upgraded in 2005 but not implemented in NSW.....so basically what is the go in NSW?


she said:

"Basically, Sydney Water are using water quality guidlines set out by the Department of Environment and Conservation (Now the department of environement and Climate Change). DEC have set out the standards for recreational and drinking water quiality. and, also the monitoring requirements and guidlines in different types of water bodies, recreation, drinknig water, sewage treament...etc..

Overal all though major guidlines in NSW come form the Australia & New Zealand Environemental Conservation Council (ANZECC) which were revised in 2002"

........ok more food for thought......................so much info!!

Not just poo!?

2001 was a turbulent year for the Potter Point Outfall not only was it getting a fantastic upgrade....but it was reported in the papers that nuclear waste was being released into the sewerage system!

reported in the Daily Telegraph on 26 March 2001:

NUCLEAR waste from the Lucas Heights reactor is being released into the sewerage system and discharged off beaches at Cronulla. The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation yesterday said fish and water samples at Potter Point, in Sydney's south, were being monitored to assess risks posed to people swimming in the area or eating fish caught in its waters.

A little bit off the Target there but still interesting !

More reading .....not that i am complaining but...there is so much information out there....its a can of worms

Library comes up trumps with newspaper cuttings, which for some reason are just not the same on factiva!

So this article states that overflows have happened since the upgrade where the treatment process has to be bypassed because of the shear quantity of water coming through the system. .....interesting....could this be what happened on Anzac day...mmm

Dry weather and wet weather flows! thats the difference

Even though storm water and drainage from rain is separate to sewage, and uses different infrastructure, inadvertently storm water and rainwater does effect the flow to sewage plants.





Sutherland Council as opposed to Sydney water deals with the rain water and storm water systems of the Sutherland Shire. So i think it best to ask their view.

Guy Amos or gamos@ssc.nsw.gov.au is the go to man about storm water in the Sutherland Council.

Guy told me that although the storm water system and the sewage system were separate, storm water often got into the sewage system via illegal methods of re-directing rain water from roofs into the sewers.

So during heavy rain sewage treatment plants are under pressure to deal with a great deal more flow than on dry weather days. Guy informs me that in the past since the upgrade at Cronulla this has resulted in a bypass of the tertiary treatment of the sewage. .......

Furthermore the difference between dry weather and wet weather flows is disscussed by Courtney May, Brad Crossmand and Fiona McPherson in their study of the impact of the upgrade of Cronulla sewage plant on water quality at Sutherland beaches:

This study states that in response to rainfall "faecal contamination at ocean beaches increases. To what extant this happens depends on the level of development and the condition of the sewerage system"

I think the library and some old newspaper browsing is in order again.......tomorrow.

Mysterious Brown water

When i went to the Outfall at Potter Point on Anzac day, the water was brown. There is no two ways about it. My Boyfriend and i stood at the Outfall watching with disgust as the foamy water smashed against the rocks with a brown hue to it!

God dam we did not have a camera, but it is committed to memory. In an effort to get this brown-ness on film i returned to the special place.

The results of this visit were, however more than disappointing. The water was as it should be: clear...ish.

This leaves me puzzled:

Since 2001 tertiary treatment should discharge clear sewage from the Potter Point Outfall, so why did i see brown water there on a gloomy Anzac day?

Moreover, why when i returned on a clear dry day was the water brown-less!?

As a surfer i know that on rainy days or after rainy days the water is less than desirable! The storm water infections are fantastic.....i always get a soar throat in dirty water ....or a ear ache. It is no fun. Does Storm water effect the treatment of sewage at the STP?

More research to be done!!! loving it !! in the non -MacDonald's sense!

Tertiary treatment.....what does this mean ?

Cronulla's STP treats to a tertiary level........ unfortunately i am not really sure what this means.



After some research into the science of the poo process i find that Tertiary treated effluent should be clear.

The engineering and technical website Cadinfo explains the upgrade at CRONULLA from primary to Tertiary Level treatment. (there is also an indepth explanation of the process of upgrading the plant ...if your interested)

The plant originally provided a primary level of treatment, meaning that it used sedimentation and the addition of ferric chloride and polymers to help remove the suspended solids and grease. The upgrade added three more steps to the sewage treatment process: 1) aeration and further sedimentation (secondary treatment); 2) filtration through sand filters (tertiary treatment); and 3) ultra-violet disinfection.

At the end of this process the discharge into the ocean at Potter Point shoud be clear, (Sydney Water advises)

mmmmmm.......so why oh why was it BROWN the other day when i visited the outfall at Potter Point?????

POO Protests

Surfers and Surf Live Savers were fed up with the state of the beach at Cronulla, however they were not about to settle for a deep ocean outfall. This method was at the time seen by the locals as an excuse by Sydney Water not to treat the effluent which filled the warm summer air at Cronulla beach with a familiar stank!!!

The three largest Sewage treatment plants in the Sydney area are North Head, Bondi and Malabar which release primary treated effluent through deep water ocean outfalls off the shore. This method has been criticised as a way of shunning responsibility to clean up our sewage and waste water. However the people of Cronulla and the Sutherland Shire Council got their way in 1996 when proposals for the upgrade of the Cronulla plant were being discussed. They said no to an off shore outfall (unless the effluent was also tertiary treated) and they got their way. The plant would be upgraded to tertiary level.

The POO protesters were successful. And they could hold their heads high among other protest groups in Sydney despite their interesting name!!!!

The Old Days of - Pre Upgrade ........Dark days ...especially for the fish!

Well back in the late eighties and early nineties things were pretty bad......or sewage was the issue of the times...whereas climate change is now dominating all our environmentally concerned energy. Check out Toxic fish and sewer surfing for some background info.

By the mid nineties Cronulla was in a particularly bad condition. Even further housing development was restricted by a sewage plant which was full to the bursting!: this is explained in an article in the SYDNEY Morning Herald from February 1995:

Housing developments in Sydney's southern suburbs may be severely restricted following a Sydney Water report which reveals that the Cronulla Sewage Treatment Plant is operating at near full capacity.

The draft report, Managing Waste Water in Sutherland Shire, which forms part of the investigation into the upgrade of the sewage plant, says: "The treatment plant is currently running at near full capacity and will not be able to cope with the additional waste water produced by a growing population unless proper planning occurs for a waste-water solution." The paper estimates the cost of upgrading the Cronulla Sewage Treatment Plant to tertiary standards, together with building a short ocean outfall, at $137 million. This is the method favoured by Sutherland Shire Council.

Upgrading the plant for sophisticated treatments which would allow the limited reuse of effluent may cost up to $1.5 billion.

The document, which also canvasses cheaper alternatives such as secondary treatment combined with a medium-length ocean outfall, will be released for public comment on Sunday.
The Cronulla sewage plant takes waste from about 190,000 people, but the document says that by 2010 there will be at least 220,000, and possibly 240,000, people living and working in the shire.

The paper says that the population growth was likely to occur in the Menai area, where an estimated 26,500 people now live. By 2010, there may be 49,000 living in the area.

The Council and the people of Cronulla suspected that the government was trying to get away with just installing an Ocean Outfall a few kilometres off the shore, instead of further treating the sewage. They would be happy with nothing less than tertiary treatment of the effluent:

There was even a protest group.......lets see what we can find out about that.

So Cronulla Treatment plant...what the go?

Cronulla Sewage Treatment Plant or STP for short was commissioned in 1956 wow that is a long time ago...... The Sutherland Shire may have looked somewhat different back then! In the 1954 the population was 65, 000 whereas at the last census (2001) the area now weighs in at over 200, 000!!! check out Shire history if you are interested. So, that is clearly a lot of poop, and the sewage plant has expanded over time in order to keep up with its populations poop production.

The most recent upgrade of Cronulla's STP was in 2001. This upgrade brought Cronulla in line with the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) guidelines and enabled the plant to deal with the growing population.

The Australian Water Sevices tell us that

The Cronulla Waste Water Treatment Plant is owned by the Sydney Water Corporation and serves the communities of the Cronulla-Sutherland Peninsula, including Sylvania, Como, Menai and Heathcote.

The Plant was commissioned in April 2001 and the $90 million upgrade has been completed.
The upgrade is providing far-reaching environmental and health benefits to the local area. These benefits include improved the water quality at Cronulla’s local beaches and Bate Bay, opportunities for local industry to re-use some of this highly treated effluent, and meeting the requirements of local population growth.

Sydney Water contracted Bovis Lend Lease to design, construct and operate the Plant. Bovis Lend Lease formed a consortium with AWS and the Cronulla Waste Water Group, a joint venture between CH2Mhill and Sinclair Knight Merz.

The management of the Plant was handed back to Sydney Water in April 2003 with full compliance on all contractual obligations including process performance, operating cost verification and training of the future operations team.

Located on the Kurnell Peninsular with an ocean outfall at Potters Point Cronulla is the biggest Shoreline outfall in the Sydney region. It is also smack bang in the middle of what must be one of the most damaged pieces of land on the Australian coastline. With the oil refinery and the proposed desalination plant and the landfill site......its just well its not right. Anyway the Sewage plant has been a point on contention in the past ...which i will research further.....

Sewage is my thing!

I have now made it my business to find out all there is to know about the history of sewage in Sydney and how it is treated and how the Cronulla STP fits into this.

Although not a pretty task it was actually really interesting. First i consulted the Sutherland Environment Centre. In fact i made it my home for half a day! I was even offered tea by the kind people who worked there and became some what part of the furniture. As a group which have been actively involved in ecological issues in the area for several years the SSEC had a wealth of information on the matter. However,this was in the form of 5 inch Environmental Impact Statements and hoards of newspaper cuttings. What else could i do but just accept my cup of tea and get into it.

See above my first bite sized pile of info......the first of many!