On Tuesday, Sydney Water publicly apologised for a contaminated sewage leak which took place at Bombo in December in response to a Kiama Independent and Sydney Morning Herald investigation on the incident.
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“Sydney Water sincerely apologises for an incident at its Bombo Wastewater Treatment Plant in December last year,” a Sydney Water spokesman said via an emailed press statement.
“Sydney Water takes its responsibility to protect the environment and public health seriously and reported the incident to the Environmental Protection Authority.
“The flow was disinfected and resulted in minimal environment and public health impacts.
“Sydney Water conducted a thorough review and has made changes to its operating procedures and equipment to prevent an incident like this occurring again.
“The latest State of the Beaches report rated water quality at Bombo Beach as very good.”
The apology also followed an EPA investigation into the leakage which found Sydney Water had breached its environment protection licence and the Protection of the Environment Operations Act.
In the press release Sydney Water added it has spent more than $3 billion over 30 years to improve beach and harbour water quality, works that include coastal wastewater treatment plant upgrades. Since 2000, Sydney Water has invested around $1.5 billion to reduce wastewater overflows.
“As a result, water quality and public health has improved at many ocean and estuarine swimming sites,” the spokesman said.
