North Head Treatment Plant on the Nose?

There has been many complaints made to North Head Sewage Plant about the smells from the plant drifting across residential areas. Last year DECCW (Dept. of Environment, Climate Change and Water) decided to investigate but the decision to prosecute Sydney Water stalled because supposedly they couldn't prove that the odours came from NHSTP.

Visitors to North Head, the residents in the area, members of North Head Sanctuary Foundation, who spend a lot of time at North Head, can all attest to where the odours come from so why isn't something being done?.

What concerns locals is that the smell is a combination of sewage odour and chemical treatment. What damage is being done to our environment, and to the residents who live in the path of the odour drift?

Last year the federal  government's National Pollutant Inventory showed Sydney Water's North Head plant dumped 24 kilograms of mercury off Manly in 2009-10.  Although there has been a major upgrade of the facility, the smells still continue - which makes us wonder, what are the figures now? Just what, and how much is still being dumped off Manly??

Local member, Mike Baird, has convened a meeting this week with Sydney Water, local residents and the Infrastructure and Biodiversity Regulation.  Let's hope we can get some answers, and solutions.

(Residents should record dates of odour complaints and report incidents directly to EPA (DECCW) ph 131555 or John Keegan, who is monitoring the issue on behalf of Little Manly Precint: jkeegan@optusnet.com.au.

What do you think about this issue?

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