Audit to improve sewage treatment’s environmental flow
The NSW EPA is working with small sewage treatment plant operators to assist them in improving their environmental performance, including around wastewater management, equipment and monitoring.
The plants, which service towns with a population of mostly less than 20,000 people, were checked to see how they met their environment protection requirements. Overall, 80 per cent were complying with all requirements that were checked.
While most of the audited small sewage treatment plants were compliant with requirements for odour control, further improvements are required in wastewater management, maintaining plant and equipment and meeting the requirements for pollution incident management response plans and publishing pollution monitoring data.
The EPA regulates small sewage treatment plants through environment protection licences with specific conditions and limits for treating and discharging wastewater, to minimise effects on the environment and community.
NSW EPA Director Contaminated Land Management Arminda Ryan said the EPA was working towards 100 per cent compliance to ensure the environment was not put at risk.
“The non-compliances found during these audits have already been followed up by EPA officers and have been rectified, which is an immediate benefit for the environment and the community,” Arminda said.
A small sewage treatment plant has an annual processing capacity of up to 10,000 megalitres of wastewater.