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Clockwise from top: The biosolid processing facility’s capacity will be increased at Sydney Water’s Glenfield water resource recovery facility; Nine beaches from Manly to North Narrabeen were closed in January 2025 after potentially hazardous ball-shaped debris was found; Black balls washed ashore at Gordons Bay in Sydney in October 2024.

The $3 billion fix promised for Sydney’s mysterious poo balls

A major upgrade of the city’s ageing sewerage system will also unlock housing development in south-west Sydney and could provide an environmentally friendly water source to data centres.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons

Latest

Water bills will increase by 34 per cent over the next five years.

How much Sydney water bills will rise by 2030 revealed

Household water bills will jump by 13.8 per cent in 2025-26 under a final determination handed down by the pricing regulator.

  • Max Maddison
Water scientist Ian Wright takes a water sample near Lake Medlow in the Blue Mountains.

Sydney Water ‘did not adequately test’ before claiming city’s catchment had no toxic hotspots

A parliamentary inquiry established after our reporting urges regular water and blood tests where elevated levels of the toxic chemicals have been found.

  • Max Maddison
Water industry experts say boil water notices could become common if a price decision means Sydney Water cannot invest in infrastructure upgrades.

Pay more for your water or boil it? The unpalatable choice behind Sydney’s water woes

Sydneysiders narrowly avoided having to boil their drinking water in 2021. After a draft bill increase was slashed, some are warning it could become common.

  • Penry Buckley and Max Maddison
Water Minister Rose Jackson said the state can’t tackle the affordability crisis without dealing with anemic housing supply.

Sydneysiders were facing a 50 per cent water bill hike. That’s now been halved

Sydney Water had called for the increase to pay for much-needed infrastructure upgrades but the pricing regulator has limited the spike.

  • Max Maddison
The state government says its agencies must be held to account to ensure there are no delays to housing approvals.

Revealed: The state agencies holding up new housing in NSW

Councils are publicly named and shamed over the time they take to approve housing developments. Now it is the government’s turn. 

  • Alexandra Smith
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University of Sydney Professor Stuart Khan says consumer goods should be tested for PFAS residues.

Your home is full of these chemicals. Your tap water provider wants them banned

The nation’s drinking water providers have called on Australia to ban chemicals found in around 900 household products.

  • Carrie Fellner
Black balls washed ashore at Gordons Bay in Sydney in October 2024.

Sydney’s ‘unusual’ sewage system and the beach grime ball invasion

Sydney’s pumping of primary-treated effluent into the ocean makes us out of step with the rest of the world, a water engineering expert said.

  • Angus Dalton
Jane Hester stands outside a huge flow of water on Malvern Avenue, Manly. It has been getting worse for nearly a fortnight.

No one wanted to fix this broken pipe outside Jane’s home – but now there’s some good news

Sydney Water and Northern Beaches Council both said it was not a matter for them, but there has been a major development.

  • Anthony Segaert
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Water bills to cover price for not keeping up with Sydney development

Sydney Water’s proposed 50 per cent hike in water rates is too big an ask.

  • The Herald's View