“Not acceptable”: Ku-ring-gai Council cops $30k fine for landfill leak

Pollution leaking from an old landfill site under North Turramurra Golf Course has landed Ku-ring-gai in trouble with the state environment protection body, which slapped the council with a $30k fine on Wednesday. 

The North Turramurra landfill site was used from the late 1940s until 1984. In 1997, leachate control facilities were installed, pumping liquid leaking from the site into a sewer for disposal. 

• Leachate is water that has travelled through solids and leached out some of its constituents. In the case of landfill, this can result in highly toxic pollution.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) was made aware of the leak in July, when the council reported to the authority that contaminated water had entered a nearby creek. The leak resulted from a failed pump, which council has since replaced. 

EPA Executive Director Steve Beaman has labelled the incident as high risk, given the site's proximity to Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.

“We expect all our licensees to maintain equipment and infrastructure properly to avoid incidents like this, and allowing a pump to leak into a waterway is not acceptable,” he said in a statement.

Imagery supplied by NSW EPA