The Hastings Point Wastewater Treatment Plant currently services about 12,860 people who live, work and holiday in Cabarita Beach, Bogangar, Hastings Point and Pottsville.

While the plant is licensed by the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to service about 18,000 people, ageing assets mean it requires improvement works now to maintain performance and ensure it can continue meeting this licensed capacity into the future.

Community benefits

By upgrading the performance of the plant, we will be able to provide resilient and efficient wastewater services for current and future populations. The quality of treated wastewater will be higher, ensuring the plant continues to meet the conditions of its EPA licence.

Options for upgrading

In 2024, Council engaged external engineering consultants, GHD, to evaluate 5 potential upgrade options for the Hastings Point WWTP. This assessment considered technical performance, environmental impact and financial feasibility to identify the most suitable upgrade.

The consultants recommended Option 4: Construct a third extended aeration tank (EAT) as the preferred solution due to its balance of performance, cost and environmental outcomes.

The consultant's report was then subjected to a peer review by Hunter BECA, an independent engineering consultant, who also concluded that Option 4 was suitable compared to the alternatives.

View the Options Assessment Report 2024 and Peer Review of Options Assessment 2024 for details on the options.

Option 4 involves:

constructing a third extended aeration tank
new inlet works and odour treatment system
a 99kW solar array
other complementary improvements
renewal of existing components at the plant.

The GHD assessment names these benefits of Option 4:

maintains the current plant’s operational philosophy with a familiar technology whilst increasing treatment capacity, reliability and redundancy
relatively low technical risk in construction and commissioning
relatively low energy consumption
low maintenance
reuses a large amount of existing infrastructure that has remaining life.

Community engagement

Public exhibition

In May and June 2024, Council sought community feedback on the draft Hastings Point Wastewater Treatment Plant Options Assessment. Of the submissions received:

50% supported the proposed performance upgrade, with some specific issues raised
33% were neither for nor against, with some specific issues raised
17% were against the proposal.

Further studies

As a result of public exhibition and additional community input in late 2024 and early 2025, Council resolved at their 20 February 2025 meeting to undertake additional engineering assessment works for both Option 4: constructing a third extended aeration tank (EAT) and Option 5: converting to a membrane bioreactor (MBR) process with the addition of a contact tank. The additional works are now underway and will focus on:

further developing performance upgrade Options 4 and 5, to provide more accurate costings and consider outcomes of the noise and odour studies
further investigating the current and future loadings on the Hastings WWTP including the impact of holiday loading
considering all relevant legislative and regulatory requirements following the performance upgrade of the plant
considering budget impacts of Options 4 and 5 in Council’s long-term financial plan.

Project consultative committee

At the 19 June 2025 Council meeting, Council resolved to form a consultative committee to provide feedback on strategic aspects of the Hastings Point Wastewater Treatment Plant performance upgrade, including options for the plant’s future.

Expressions of Interest to join the committee were open in July and August 2025. We received a strong pool of applicants with a variety of skills, experience and perspectives relevant for the project.

At the 18 September 2025 Council meeting, Council appointed 5 community members to the committee, after carefully evaluating all applications against the committee’s membership criteria outlined in its Terms of Reference. They are:

Graham Robinson – Chartered Engineer with a Masters of Business Administration and a Graduate Diploma in Financial Management, with water and wastewater experience.
Alan Pigott – Member of Hastings Point community, degrees in Law and Business (Public Sector Administration), extensive experience in local and state government including Premiers and Cabinet, and member of several Audit Risk and Advisory Committees for local government.
Kenneth Rippin – Civil engineer with 40 years’ experience in water and wastewater, including major WWTP upgrades at Geelong, Hong Kong and Shanghai, and assessing environmental impacts of wastewater discharges.
Harry Hartman – Member of Hastings Point community, Civil Engineer with 40 years’ experience and a Masters of Business Administration, experienced with Tier 1 contractors and alliance contracts delivering water and wastewater projects in Australia and overseas.
Trish Chadwick – Member of Bogangar community, Ecologist with a Bachelor of Science, with knowledge and experience in river systems, wetlands and associated environments and habitats.

The committee will also include 4 Council representatives and an independent chair appointed by the NSW Government.

Thanks to all community members who expressed interest in joining the committee.

What’s next?

We are proceeding with additional assessment works for Options 4 and 5. It is estimated this additional work will take 12 months to complete. Throughout this period, the newly formed project consultative committee will meet regularly to provide input on strategic aspects of the upgrade.

The additional engineering investigation report will then be provided to Council to determine a preferred option. This report will be made available on this page prior to Council decision.

Once Council has determined a preferred option, we will finalise the concept design, review environmental factors and determine planning and other government agency approvals. This is expected to take 12 months.

When these actions are complete and approvals are in place, the project will move to the detailed design stage and after that, construction will commence. This is expected to take an additional 2 years.

Expression of Interest form - Hastings Point WWTP Consultative Committee