There are 11 coastal treatment plants. The three largest are located at North Head, Bondi and Malabar and treat most of Sydney's sewage, discharging via deep ocean outfalls.
| Treatment plant | Treatment level |
Dischrg (ML/ day)1 |
Equivalent population3 | Discharge type |
Discharge location |
| Warriewood | Secondary & disinfection | 16 | 59,000 | Shoreline | Turimetta Head |
| North Head | High-rate primary | 336 | 1,240,000 | Deepwater | 3.7 km from shoreline, 65 m max. water depth, 762 m diffuser zone |
| Bondi | High-rate primary | 130 | 480,000 | Deepwater | 2.2 km from shoreline, 63 m max. water depth, 512 m diffuser zone |
| Malabar | High-rate primary | 456 | 1,690,000 | Deepwater | 3.6 km from shoreline, 82 m max. water depth, 720 m diffuser zone |
| Cronulla | Tertiary and disinfection | 54 | 200,000 | Shoreline | Potter Point |
| Bellambi | Wet weather sewage treatment plant | 0 | Nearshore | Bellambi Point | |
| Wollongong | Tertiary and disinfection | 40 | 199,000 | Nearshore | Reuse at Bluescope steelworks . Discharge of remainder via offshore outfall with diffuser zone |
| Port Kembla | Wet weather sewage treatment plant | 0 | Shoreline | Red Point | |
| Shellharbour | Secondary & disinfection | 16 | 60,000 | Nearshore | Offshore outfall with diffuser zone |
| Bombo | Secondary & denitrification & disinfection | 3.6 | 13,300 | Shoreline | Headland north of Bombo Beach |
1 Average daily dry weather discharge.
2 Chemically assisted sedimentation (CAS).
3 Equivalent Population (EP): an estimate of the number of people served by a treatment plant.
4 Outfall length is the distance from the shoreline to the end of the diffuser zone.
The smaller coastal treatment plants - Warriewood, Cronulla, Bombo, Wollongong, Port Kembla, Brooklyn, Shellharbour and Bellambi, discharge treated effluent closer to the shore. Approximately 0.5 per cent of Sydney's sewage is discharged untreated to the ocean at Vaucluse, Diamond Bay and Diamond Bay South.