{"id":423273,"date":"2026-01-21T08:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T08:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/423273\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T08:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T08:55:07","slug":"new-poo-balls-on-sydney-beaches-after-revelation-of-huge-fatberg-stuck-in-treatment-plant-new-south-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/423273\/","title":{"rendered":"New poo balls on Sydney beaches after revelation of huge fatberg stuck in treatment plant | New South Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"

Debris balls have washed up on Sydney\u2019s beaches after a weekend of heavy rain, with the objects found on Malabar beach next to a sewage treatment works and also in Botany Bay.<\/p>\n

Sydney Water<\/a> erected a sign at Malabar beach warning of the potential pollution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis area may be affected by sewage debris balls,\u201d the sign states. \u201cPlease do not touch any debris. We are cleaning the area and apologise for any inconvenience.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday evening, there were more than a dozen black and grey blobs among other beach debris. When broken open, they had a foul smell. There were also smaller, grey balls.<\/p>\n

Guardian Australia reported on Saturday that a giant fatberg, potentially the size of four Sydney buses<\/a>, within Sydney Water\u2019s Malabar deepwater ocean sewer had been identified as the likely source of the debris balls that closed beaches a year ago.<\/p>\n

Signage and debris balls at Malabar beach on Tuesday. Photograph: Anne Davies\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

A secret Sydney Water report stated their \u201cworking hypothesis\u201d was the buildup of fats, oils and grease was in an \u201cinaccessible dead zone\u201d at the start of the outfall, which delivers primary-treated sewage<\/a> 2.3km out to sea.<\/p>\n

Debris balls are released when \u201csloughing events\u201d occur due to a rapid change in pumping pressure, previously caused by power outages or heavy rains, the report suggests.<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the weekend, Sydney was hit by a storm, which saw the city inundated with falls of more than 100mm within hours<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Debris on Malabar beach. Photograph: Anne Davies\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Debris also washed up on Foreshore beach near where Mill Stream enters Botany Bay.<\/p>\n

The beach is regularly scored by Beachwatch<\/a> as one of Sydney\u2019s most polluted because it is located near one of the main overflow valves for the Malabar sewage system.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday morning, the beach was littered with waxy, grey lumps, some as large as half a house brick, as well as smaller balls.<\/p>\n

Two men in hi-vis, who identified themselves as contractors for Sydney Water, were cleaning up the beach. They told Guardian Australia it was their second day and they were removing wet wipes and chunks of grease.<\/p>\n

Workers on Foreshore beach in Botany Bay on Wednesday morning. Photograph: Anne Davies\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Sydney Water has an agreement<\/a> with Sydney airport and the EPA to discharge sewage into Mill Stream until July 2027.<\/p>\n

Sydney Water said on Wednesday it was taking \u201cimmediate actions and long\u2011term corrective measures\u201d after the balls were found on Malabar and Foreshore beaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe exact origin and cause are under investigation,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSydney Water crews have been on site over multiple days, leading both coordination and on-beach clean-ups \u2013 supported by council \u2013 while undertaking visual inspections, collecting and removing observed debris balls, and disposing of all material in accordance with environmental and safety requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comment was sought from the Environment Protection Authority, Randwick council and the NSW water minister, Rose Jackson.<\/p>\n

Unlike most cities, Sydney relies on primary treatment for most of its sewage.<\/p>\n

The Sydney Water chief executive, Darren Cleary, last week defended the use of three deepwater ocean outfalls at Malabar, Bondi and North Head to dispose of 80% of the city\u2019s wastewater.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeep ocean outfalls have been meeting environmental standards for nearly three decades,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cleary said Sydney Water conducted regular testing around the site where diffusers release sewage 2-4km offshore, and Sydney beaches generally had very good water quality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue of the debris balls is an unexpected event,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sydney Water is working to introduce higher levels of processing at inland plants to produce recycled water for industry and, in particular, datacentres, which require large amounts for cooling.<\/p>\n

Its spokesperson said on Wednesday a 10-year $3bn Malabar system investment program would \u201cupgrade key upstream wastewater treatment facilities and significantly reduce the volume of wastewater that needs to be discharged via the Malabar deep ocean outfall\u201d.<\/p>\n

The secret report suggested that dealing with the fatberg at Malabar would require shutting down the outfall for maintenance and diverting sewage to \u201ccliff face discharge\u201d, which would close Sydney\u2019s beaches \u201cfor months\u201d.<\/p>\n

This had \u201cnever been done\u201d and was \u201cno longer considered an acceptable approach\u201d, the August 2025 report acknowledged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Debris balls have washed up on Sydney\u2019s beaches after a weekend of heavy rain, with the objects found…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-423273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}