Sydney Water Corporation has been convicted and penalised a total of $185,000, following prosecution by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA), for failing to adequately clean up sewage pollution at a creek and in bushland at Bangor in Sydney's south.
On 14 September 2018, approximately 57,000 litres of untreated sewage was discharged from a Sydney Water maintenance hole at Bangor. The incident caused environmental harm to the unnamed creek and surrounding environment.
In the NSW Land and Environment Court, Justice Rachel Pepper convicted Sydney Water of one offence of breaching its environment protection licence and one offence of failing to comply with a clean-up notice issued to Sydney Water by the EPA. Sydney Water pleaded guilty to both offences.
Sydney Water was required under its environment protection licence and under a clean-up notice to take action to minimise the impact of the sewage overflow as soon as practicable. However, failures in Sydney Water's management in the aftermath of the sewage overflow meant that the clean-up was delayed.
Justice Pepper found that due to failures in Sydney Water's instructions and communication the clean-up of the raw sewage was not completed for more than four weeks. This likely permitted the ongoing pollution of the unnamed creek and the local aquatic environment.
Justice Pepper said that Sydney Water's actions were reckless and that its response to the pollution was "a wholly dilatory and inadequate clean-up effort".
Sydney Water was ordered to pay $100,000 of the $185,000 penalty to Sutherland Shire Council for the Watercourse Rehabilitation and Bush Regeneration Project at Engadine.
Acting Director Regulatory Operations Jacinta Hanemann said the EPA welcomed the decision and that it was vital that pollution incidents were cleaned up promptly.
"Untreated sewage can pose a risk to human health and can have significant environmental impacts on waterways and local ecosystems," Ms Hanneman said.
Sydney Water was also ordered to pay the EPA's investigation costs of $10,758 plus legal costs and to publicise its convictions in the Sydney Morning Herald, Daily Telegraph and a local newspaper as well as on social media.
Including the above matters, since mid-2019 has successfully prosecuted Sydney Water for seven offences against the environment protection legislation. Additional EPA prosecutions against Sydney Water for alleged environmental offences are currently before the Courts.
Penalty notices are one of a number of tools the EPA can use to achieve environmental compliance including formal warnings, official cautions, licence conditions, notices and directions and prosecutions. In this instance the EPA issued a penalty notice. The notice recipient may pay the penalty notice, seek a review, or elect to have the matter determined by a court.
