Hunter making waves with quality beaches and swimming sites

The Hunter has some of the best beaches and swimming sites in NSW, according to the latest ‘State of the Beaches’ report.

Beachwatch’s annual scorecard has graded 100 per cent of nominated swimming sites in the Hunter as ‘Good’ or ‘Very Good’ – an improvement of four per cent compared to last year.

Beachwatch is the recreational water quality monitoring program of the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment.

The report summarises the performance of 17 ocean beaches across the region, which are monitored by Hunter Water, City of Newcastle, Lake Macquarie City Council, and Port Stephens Council.

It shows grades of ‘Good’ or ‘Very Good’ for all of the monitored swimming sites in the Hunter, with most of these locations either improving or maintaining their water quality.

Hunter Water Managing Director, Darren Cleary, welcomed the results.

“It’s great to see these positive scores, which reflect ongoing efforts towards the preservation and improvement of swimming sites along our coastline.

“Our quality assurance programs, which maintain and monitor water quality across our region, contribute to Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Port Stephens achieving their excellent gradings.

“We will continue to work with local councils and state agencies to protect and improve the quality of our waterways.

“We are also investing millions of dollars to upgrade a number of our Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) throughout the Lower Hunter as part of our commitment to produce better environmental outcomes,” said Mr Cleary.

Visit www.environment.nsw.gov.au to view the full report.