South Broulee Beach is safe for swimming following a sewage overflow earlier in the week.
On Monday Eurobodalla Council identified a sewer blockage and detected contamination in the stormwater outflow, which discharges onto South Broulee Beach.
It came after tree roots blocked an underground sewer main on Grant Street, causing an overflow to the stormwater system.
Council’s environmental health coordinator Nathan Ladmore said that when potential contamination to recreational swimming areas was identified, Council erected signs to warn swimmers of a potential hazard.
Signs are left in place until test results are clear.
“In this instance we tested the beach water on Monday as part of our normal Beachwatch program, and sent the samples to the laboratory,” Mr Ladmore said.
“These results came in late Wednesday afternoon, and follow-up sampling and results on Friday gave it a ‘good’ rating, meaning bacterial levels were safe for swimming.”
Meanwhile contractor Cleanaway cleared the blockage, or ‘choke’, in the sewer main on Wednesday with a high pressure water jetting machine.
Council’s water and sewer manager Brett Corven said throughout the shire there was about 530km of sewer main pipelines, which occasionally became blocked from tree roots breaking into the main in search of water.
“Our sewer main renewal program is progressively relining our sewer pipes to prevent chokes such as this, while we also have an annual sewer main cleaning program, in which the high-risk pipes are flushed,” he said.
“Our team will inspect the Broulee main using a camera to see if any further work is required. Residents have complained of odours near the surf club and this will help to identify if there is a further problem to this week’s sewer choke.”
Council will continue to monitor water quality at South Broulee Beach through its Beachwatch program, which monitors 11 of Eurobodalla’s popular swimming beaches and reports the results on its website.
Above: South Broulee Beach on Friday.
