A pipe which was decommissioned as a sewage outfall more than 15 years ago is still used on rare occasions to release untreated, diluted sewage at a popular surfing spot.
Unitywater has confirmed that what was the Moffat Beach sewage outfall is used as an emergency overflow for the sewerage network.
Unitywater’s executive manager of customer delivery Rhett Duncan said the overflow was used rarely and was only known to have released once in the last two years.
Mr Duncan said overflows provided relief when the sewerage network was overwhelmed with stormwater and the sewage released was highly diluted, as well as screened to retain solids.
Sunshine Coast councillor Terry Landsberg, whose division includes Moffat Beach, has called for the removal of the pipe, describing the release of untreated sewage into the ocean as unacceptable in this day and age.
“As far as I’m concerned, the release of untreated sewage is totally unacceptable regardless of the amount of dilution they claim to use,” he said.
Cr Landsberg discovered the old outfall pipe was still in use when he approached Unitywater about removing the protective wall around it as part of the Moffat Beach seawall upgrade.
The former president of the Windansea Boardriders club said there was a feeling the pipe and groyne protecting it interfered with the wave quality at Moffat Beach.
“The question was, while we’ve got machinery at Moffat Beach building the seawall, is it appropriate that we could look at some machinery to remove the rock groyne that’s out there?” he said.
Mr Landsberg said Unitywater did not object to removal of the groyne but advised the pipe would have to stay because it was used to release “overflow” during significant weather events.
The Caloundra sewage treatment plant was decommissioned by Caloundra City Council in 2007 and it was widely assumed that the outfall pipe, which had been used since 1968, was no longer in use.
Mr Duncan said the pipe was already in use as an emergency wet weather overflow point when it inherited the council’s water and sewerage assets in 2011.
He confirmed Unitywater did not object to removal of the protective wall around but did not consent to removal of the pipe.
Mr Landsberg said he did not believe the use of the overflow was in line with modern community expectations.
“To still hear that the pipe is releasing untreated sewerage into the ocean is totally unacceptable in today’s environment,” he said.
“When I found out about this, I was taken aback. I really had to try and understand, am I really hearing this? Is this the truth? It’s totally unacceptable that this is still active.”
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Moffat Beach resident Rowan Finter, who pushed for the outfall to be shut, was disappointed to hear that untreated sewage was still released there on occasion.
“It’s just going back 20 years, isn’t it?” he said.
Mr Finter wondered if the overflow could have been the cause of brown-coloured water at Shelly Beach around the time of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred’s rainy departure from the Coast last month, given the usual flow of the current from Moffat to Shelly Beach and around Wickham Point towards Kings Beach.
Mr Duncan said the only known discharge in the last two years was on January 30, 2024, when 200 to 260mm fell in the space of a couple of hours, causing flash flooding in the Caloundra area.
He said the use of the pipe as an overflow aligned with Unitywater’s Environmental Authority, which permitted constructed overflows to manage severe wet weather events.
“A constructed overflow is specifically designed to release to an area with the least impact to homes and businesses,” he said.
Andrew Champion, who was a Caloundra City councillor for six terms between 1985 and 2008, said an overflow and outfall were “the same thing”.
Mr Champion, who was a vocal member of the Beach Protection Authority, said there should be an investigation into who approved the outfall connection to be maintained, and the same with regards to an outfall pipe into the Mooloolah River.
Current division five councillor Winston Johnston said the wheels were put in motion for the Kawana Sewage Treatment Plant to take over from the Caloundra treatment plant during his time as a Caloundra City councillor from 1982 to 1991.
Cr Johnston said sewage was to be pumped from Caloundra to Kawana so that it no longer discharged at Moffat Beach and it was disgraceful that the pipe was still occasionally releasing sewage there.
“It’s counter to most of the reasons for moving the whole treatment plant to Kawana,” he said.
Don Smith, who was the divisional councillor for the area and deputy mayor of Caloundra City when the treatment plant was decommissioned, said there was discussion at the time about a desalination plant and the outfall could have been re-purposed as an inlet.
Mr Smith said it was better for the sewerage network to overflow into the ocean, where it would be quickly dispersed by currents, than into street drains or homes.
He suggested Cr Landsberg seek support for an independent report on the pipe before championing its removal.
“I reckon you should do a full independent report on the pipe and the removal. Does the overflow then go into Tooway Lake, or into someone’s homes? I know which way I’d vote on both of these,” he said.
Mr Duncan said Unitywater conducted an ongoing program to identify and fix the incorrect entry of stormwater into the network to minimise overflows and was considering alternatives.
“In keeping with a commitment we have already provided to council, we are also reviewing the feasibility of alternate ways of operating the network that afford the same level of protection for our customers and community, including obtaining preliminary cost and time estimates associated with any augmentation,” he said.
Javier Leon, president of the Surfrider Foundation’s Sunshine Coast branch, was surprised to learn the pipe was still in use.
“It potentially compromises the health of people around the outfall, especially people who surf at Moffat, which are a large number,” he said.
Mr Leon said information about water quality at Moffat Beach was essential and said a monitoring program, such as Surfrider’s Gold Coast volunteer-led Blue Water Task Force program, should be implemented.
“It is likely we will see this outfall being used more frequently in the near future as more extreme rainfall events are forecasted due to climate change. This makes it critical to monitor the water quality and its impacts to the public,” he said.
Mr Leon said the quality of the wave at Moffat could also be potentially improved by removing the protective wall around the pipe and that would provide an opportunity to study the impact of improved surf quality on the economy.
“This is worth pursuing given the economic and cultural importance of surfing, particularly at Moffats, but generally across the Sunshine Coast. This could set a very positive precedent,” he said.
“It’s a well-regarded wave. It’s a very important wave. It has a strong connection to Australian surfing culture and the surfing community needs to be taken seriously.”
