Incidents and emergencies within reticulated wastewater systems
If an incident or emergency occurs within a wastewater system that has the potential to cause a risk to public health, Department for Health and Wellbeing must be notified.
Examples of incidents or emergencies include (but are not limited to):
- the supply of untreated water to a recycled water user
- an uncontrolled discharge of sewage, effluent, or recycled water
- a natural disaster such as a flood, fire, or severe weather event causing the functionality of the wastewater treatment plant to be impacted
- E. Coli result exceeding the approved limit
- toxic cyanobacteria growth in wastewater lagoons or recycled water storages.
Some approvals define Priority Type 1, Type 1, and Type 2 incident criteria, and detail the reporting method and timeframes for these incidents. Where an approval does not define incident criteria, incidents are required to be reported within 24 hours or the next business day.
Community Wastewater Management Schemes (CWMS)
To report an incident at a CWMS, submit the online wastewater and recycled water incident notification form.
If you would like to clarify if an incident is reportable or not, please contact the Wastewater Management team at healthwastewatermanagement@sa.gov.au or on (08) 8226 7100.
SA Water wastewater treatment plants
Incidents are to be reported in line with the Water and Wastewater Incident Notification Protocol and the requirements of the specific WWTP’s recycled water supply approval.