Mountain resident Michael DeGood, retired chemical engineer David Buick and Hastings
Point resident Richard Gow launch a community petition at Maggies Beach, site of the
soakage pits for the Hastings Point Wastewater Treatment Plant. Photo supplied
Pottsville, Hastings Point, Round Mountain, and Cabarita and Bogangar residents are demanding that Tweed Shire Council (TSC) upgrade the Hastings Point Wastewater Treatment Plant to ensure that dunes, beaches, and waterways are kept safe for locals, visitors, and the environment.
They have launched a petition, available to sign at most businesses in Pottsville and Cabarita, and a campaign to persuade Tweed Shire councillors to choose the best upgrade option, not the cheapest, for the 40-year-old plant.
‘The 40-year-old Hastings Point Wastewater Treatment Plant needs urgent modernisation to service the beachside suburbs, and not just a cheap, short-sighted “band-aid” fix,’ say the group.
The plant upgrade is expected to be on the Tweed Council meeting agenda on February 20.
Bogangar Residents’ Association vice-president, and retired chemical engineer David Buick, says the plant is at best in fair condition, and uncontrolled discharges into the waterways and dunes have become increasingly common.
‘Various components of the plant are at or nearing the end of their operational life,’ he said. ‘The plant has become incapable of consistently meeting EPA effluent discharge licence limits, raising public health and environmental alarms.
‘The lack of treatment capacity in the plant is also reflected in issues at dunal disposal on Maggies Beach, with blinding of fabric beds and overflows of effluent.’
Proposed option inadequate
Mr Buick says the council’s proposed option, costing $28 million, is a continuation of the existing, barely adequate technology with a performance rated only as acceptable.
‘The current option does not address community and environmental issues associated with noise, odour, dune infiltration or wet weather overflow into waterways,’ he said. ‘Two options that deliver excellent performance were discarded, primarily based on cost. However, the cost assessments are flawed.’
The Hastings Point Wastewater Treatment Plant currently services about 12,860 residents. Round Mountain resident Michael DeGood says the coastline between Cabarita and Pottsville is a very special and fragile environment.
No human waste for Tweed beaches
‘It’s nationally and globally significant for its ecological diversity and profusion of endangered plants and animals,’ he said. ‘Any additional human waste load degrades this environment and puts many species – in fact, entire ecological communities – at risk.
‘Water is a precious resource and, the better the quality, the greater the opportunities for re-use. If we follow Tweed Shire Council’s “just good enough” approach, we’ll end up with beaches like northern Sydney, where human waste from treatment plants prevents swimming with alarming frequency.
‘These Sydney communities had only followed the advice of their local councils. We want better and the environment needs better.’
Tweed Council expects that the Hastings Point treatment plant upgrade will be delivered by June 2028, with construction expected to start in the first half of 2026. Details of the five upgrade options can be found on Tweed Shire Council’s website at: https://www.yoursaytweed.com.au/hastings-point-plant-upgrade.
‘Tweed Shire residents and ratepayers can sign the petition in support of council providing an excellent option for waste treatment at businesses in the plant’s service area,’ say campaigners.
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