They want you to believe they’re clean and green – but this Aussie council has a dirty little secret
A council that dubs itself as ‘Sydney’s green heart’ has been ordered to clean up its act after pollution spilled into the main waterway that runs through a national park.
Ku-ring-gai Council has been issued its second clean-up order by the NSW Environment Protection Authority within a year.
Landfill leachate beneath North Turramurra Golf Course leaked into a drain line that flows directly into Cowan Creek on Sydney’s upper north shore.
Cowan Creek is the main waterway that flows through Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park and is a major tributary of the Hawkesbury River.
Photos taken by the EPA during a recent inspection showed orange-brownish discharge and sediment leaking from a management system that disposes of water within a former landfill on the golf site.
The pollution was the result of an ‘unexpected pump malfunction’ at the old landfill site.
The council self-reported the problem to the environmental watchdog.
‘Council has since installed a replacement pump which stopped the leak,’ an EPA spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.
Ku-ring-gai Council has been issued with an EPA clean-up order over the pollution spill
The orange-coloured discharge and sediment leaked from a former landfill site underneath North Turramurra Golf Course
‘EPA officers collected samples of the leak and water samples from an unnamed creek downstream, which will help inform whether there was any impact to the environment.
‘The EPA’s investigation is continuing.’
Friends of Ku-ring-gai Environment president Kathy Cowley told Daily Mail Australia that she had no idea until this week about the ‘concerning’ incident and needed more detail to comment further.
It’s the second time in a year that Ku-ring-gai Council has been in hot water with the EPA.
‘Sediment-laden water’ was detected leaking from Pymble’s Norman Griffiths Oval into a creek in Lane Cove National Park on at least three occasions in April 2024 following heavy rain.
The council has long hailed itself as ‘Sydney’s green and clean heart’ for its bushland, waterways, fauna, and nationally significant ecological communities.
It also regards itself, in council reports, as the last remaining area of biodiversity significance in metropolitan Sydney.
The pollution leaked into a drain line that flows directly into Cowan Creek, the main waterway of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park (pictured)
