Service difficulties
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service: 13 20 90
Coastal sewage treatment plants operated by Sydney Water
There are ten 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.
The smaller coastal treatment plants - Warriewood, Cronulla, Bombo, Wollongong, Port Kembla, 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.
| 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 | Primary, CAS2 & disinfection | 23 | 85,000 | Nearshore | Bellambi Point |
| Wollongong | Secondary & disinfection | 14.5 | 54,000 | Nearshore | Coniston Beach |
| Port Kembla | Primary, CAS2 & disinfection | 16 | 60,000 | Shoreline | Red Point |
| Shellharbour | Secondary & disinfection | 16 | 60,000 | Nearshore | Barrack Point |
| 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.