Hunter River Estuary Wastewater Masterplan

The Hunter River, including its creeks and waterways, is central to our wellbeing. People use the river for boating, fishing and swimming. It provides water for farming and industry. It nourishes our wetlands and provides habitat for native plants and animals.

Helping our river be healthy and beautiful

There are lots of factors that affect the health of the river and estuary. Dirty water flows into the river from roads, gutters and drains. There's water run-off from farms and industry that contains pollutants. Erosion means soil and nutrients enter the river. There are also treatment plants in Farley, Kurri Kurri, Raymond Terrace, Morpeth and Shortland that release treated wastewater that flows into the river.

We need to make sure we are helping maintain river health and we are also able to meet the needs of our growing population. To do this we are developing the Hunter River Estuary Wastewater Masterplan (the plan) to guide decisions about how to manage our wastewater treatment plants into the future.

Thank you to everyone who helped by telling us how and where they use the river, creeks and waterways. We are currently reviewing everything you've told us and incorporating that into our plan. We'll soon have more information to share with you.