The state government will invest $3 billion on the Malabar wastewater treatment system over 10 years to support the fast-growing communities in South West Sydney – and help protect the city’s famous beaches.
Minister for water Rose Jackson made the announcement this morning at the Glenfield plant.
She said the project would reduce the volume of wastewater that needs to be treated and discharged via the Malabar deep ocean outfall.
The Malabar wastewater treatment system was identified as the likely source of debris balls that washed up on beaches across Sydney, the South Coast and Central Coast in late 2024 and early 2025.
The system currently services almost two million people between Fairfield, Campbelltown and Liverpool and Malabar in the east.
Staged upgrades over the coming decade will improve the performance of the Malabar system to support population growth in the South West and reduce the likelihood of debris balls forming again.
The program will be delivered across key facilities, including the Glenfield, Liverpool and Fairfield plants.
For the first stage of the multi-billion program, Sydney Water will partner with the Malabar System Alliance (Acciona Construction, Acciona Agua, SMEC) to deliver major upgrades to the Glenfield and Liverpool facilities.
Work will include refurbishing and expanding primary treatment processes and a new secondary treatment process at Liverpool, with on-site works to begin in coming months.
In the short-term, Sydney Water is continuing to work with the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and the independent Wastewater Expert Panel on limiting further debris balls incidents.
Sydney Water has increased cleaning and inspection of ocean outfall screens, is tightening trade-waste controls for high-risk customers, and is expanding its fats, oils and grease education campaign to reduce problematic material from entering the network.
“Sydney is a rapidly growing city and no one wants to see debris balls washing up on our beautiful beaches again,’’ said Minister Jackson.
“But the truth is our wastewater system needs an upgrade to keep pace with the population.
“This is a major plan to deliver critical wastewater system upgrades in a sensible, staged way, ensuring that major investments are funded over time and Sydney Water users don’t face sudden bill shock.’’
Its great news that the waste treatment systems are to be upgraded.
Family discussions around proposed new housing developments, state wide, has included the need to upgrade our water treatment facilities.
The other great need is new dams to provide water to these new areas of development.