<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jan/17/fatberg-poo-balls-sydney-beaches-malabar-outfall-secret-report>
"A giant fatberg, potentially the size of four Sydney buses, within Sydney
Water’s Malabar deepwater ocean sewer has been identified as the likely source
of the debris balls that washed up on Sydney beaches a year ago.
Sydney Water isn’t sure exactly how big the fatberg is because it can’t easily
access where it has accumulated.
Fixing the problem would require shutting down the outfall – which reaches
2.3km offshore – for maintenance and diverting sewage to “cliff face
discharge”, which would close Sydney’s beaches “for months”, a secret report
obtained by
Guardian Australia states.
This has “never been done” and is “no longer considered an acceptable
approach”, the report acknowledges.
Sydney Water’s deepwater ocean outfalls (DOOF) assessment report, dated 30
August 2025, was produced for the New South Wales Environment Protection
Authority, which has been investigating the “debris balls” that closed numerous
beaches in late 2024 and early 2025.
“The working hypothesis is FOG [fats, oils and grease] accumulation in an
inaccessible dead zone between the Malabar bulkhead door and the decline tunnel
has potentially led to sloughing events, releasing debris balls,” the report
concludes.
“This chamber was not designed for routine maintenance and can only be accessed
by taking the DOOF offline and diverting effluent to the cliff face for an
extended period (months), which would close Sydney beaches.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
