An Opportunity Wasted !

It seems incredible that we still have three sewage outfalls pumping raw sewage into the ocean. The discharge points are at Vaucluse and Diamond Bay in Sydney's east and the sea offshore is clearly contaminated.  It is a distasteful sight and it delivers a risk to public health as outlined in a report by Sydney Water.

The main reason this has been allowed to continue is because this part of Sydney is where the coastline consists of sheer cliffs with limited access to the water. Few people swim there so the risk is concentrated to those fishing from the rocky shore or spear fishing or scuba diving.  It is estimated that this is restricted to about two thousand such visitors a year.

Unfortunately, this untreated outfall is causing permanent damage to the ocean and that is because of what Sydney residents choose to discard by way of their toilet.   The ocean floor is building a residue of plastics such as sanitary products and wet wipes which do not dissolve and this is causing a" brown fuzz " , a mixture of algae, bacteria and hydroids, or a jellyfish like species.

It seems that these outfalls serve the disposal needs of about 10,500 people living nearby and this has been in place since about 1916.   Plans to build a treatment station have met resistance because of the nature of the works and the need for tunnelling which may cause damage to house foundations.

Continuing to pump raw sewage into the sea in this twenty-first century is not the image we hope to project, and it does raise a question about sewage disposal that caused a lot of excitement a few years back.   There were claims that we had advanced the treatment process to the stage where our sewage was safe for limited use on the agricultural scene.

It was still banned for use in horticulture and it was unlikely to ever be cleared for use in market gardens producing vegetables for human consumption, but tests were carried out spreading it on grazing land to enhance pasture for sheep and cattle.   The results were spectacular.   Former marginal grazing land blossomed with a heavy grass cover that was resistant to drought.  Once treated, this persisted for many seasons and it seemed the ideal answer to the problem of our sewers.  Instead of dumping waste into the sea we now had the ability to convert it into a valuable agricultural product that would drought proof grazing land.

We were treated to media pictures illustrating this miracle, but it seems that a silence has descended.  If we are still dumping what seemed to be a valuable product into the sea then questions need to be asked.  Why is it not finding its way to assist the grazing industry ?   Is Sydney Water putting too high a price on the product ?   Is there a transport problem getting it to market ?   Why is it not in general use in the farming community ?

It will certainly raise the suspicion that a government department may not have the expertise to successfully market a new product in a competitive commercial sector, and the surest way to stop those ocean outfalls is to convert that outfall to a source of income !