{"id":634453,"date":"2026-09-24T11:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T11:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/634453\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T11:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T11:00:14","slug":"coogee-ranks-as-sydneys-worst-ocean-beach-for-faecal-pollution-again-new-south-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/634453\/","title":{"rendered":"Coogee ranks as Sydney\u2019s worst ocean beach for faecal pollution \u2013 again | New South Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coogee has ranked as the Sydney<\/a> ocean beach most polluted with faecal matter, an annual state survey has found.<\/p>\n

Of 245 swimming sites across New South Wales, 43 sites (17.6%) received a rating of \u201cpoor\u201d or \u201cvery poor\u201d in the 2026 State of the Beaches report<\/a>, part of an annual survey by the state\u2019s environment department.<\/p>\n

Coogee\u2019s grading \u2013 unchanged from last year \u2013 indicates \u201cmicrobial water quality is susceptible to faecal pollution, particularly after rainfall and occasionally during dry weather conditions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Across NSW, 97% of oceans beaches achieved a \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cvery good\u201d rating.<\/p>\n

Table showing results for beaches around NSW<\/a><\/p>\n

Prof Stuart Khan, a water quality expert and head of the school of civil engineering at the University of Sydney, said Coogee\u2019s \u201cpoor\u201d rating was unsurprising and was largely weather dependent.<\/p>\n

Storm water runoff to beaches brings bacterial pollution via several sources, washing dog poo from streets and bird droppings from roofs. Sydney\u2019s sewers were also designed to overflow at times of heavy rain, running into storm water drains that discharge directly into the ocean or waterways.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we get sewage contamination into the storm water and therefore on to the beaches,\u201d Khan said.<\/p>\n

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Because Coogee beach was a very steep catchment, \u201cwhen it rains, you very quickly generate a lot of runoff moving \u2026 into the storm water system, and very quickly down to the beach\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

As a semi-protected bay, Coogee \u201cdoesn\u2019t flush as well as some of the other beaches\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a big wet weather event, you can see the water in Coogee turn brown and stay that way for potentially a couple of days,\u201d Khan said. \u201cSo you\u2019re more likely to take a sample that\u2019s contaminated at Coogee than you might at Bondi, even if you had the same pollution going on, because Bondi will flush out quicker and recover quicker with clean marine water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khan, who also chaired a NSW Environment Protection Authority expert panel to investigate the poo balls<\/a> that washed up on Sydney beaches, said wastewater outflows from the Malabar waste treatment plant were a \u201cnegligible contributor\u201d to Coogee\u2019s poor water quality, as those deep ocean discharges occurred kilometres out to sea.<\/p>\n

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Across all NSW swimming sites, including rivers, lagoons and tidal pools, 79% were rated \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cvery good\u201d, which the government characterised as a statewide improvement \u201clargely associated with drier weather conditions across many parts of NSW during the reporting period, which generally reduced stormwater runoff and pollution entering waterways\u201d.<\/p>\n

Twelve other Sydney swimming spots received a rating of \u201cpoor\u201d \u2013 including the Bayview baths, Frenchmans bay, the Kyeemagh baths and Rose Bay beach, which are all classified as estuarine sites.<\/p>\n

Foreshores beach, beside Sydney airport, and the Gymea bay baths were the only two Sydney sites to receive ratings of \u201cvery poor\u201d, in addition to Yosemite Creek in the Blue Mountains.<\/p>\n

The government advises swimming should always be avoided at \u201cvery poor\u201d sites, while the water quality at \u201cpoor\u201d sites is often unsuitable, especially after rain.<\/p>\n

Malabar beach in the Randwick local government area, and Shelly beach in Manly, which both received a rating of \u201cpoor\u201d last year<\/a>, improved to a \u201cgood\u201d rating this year.<\/p>\n

One Mile beach in the Port Stephens area received one of the highest water quality rankings in NSW. Photograph: Jarryd Salem<\/p>\n

Eight coastal beaches shared the state\u2019s highest water quality rankings, including Avalon beach in Sydney\u2019s north, Wollongong\u2019s City beach, One Mile beach in the Hunter, and three Central Coast beaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood environmental decisions rely on good science,\u201d the NSW environment minister, Penny Sharpe, said. \u201cThrough decades of consistent monitoring, Beachwatch<\/a> provides the robust data needed to track water quality trends and give swimmers confidence in the information they use.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coogee has ranked as the Sydney ocean beach most polluted with faecal matter, an annual state survey has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-634453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}