The Court sentenced Sydney Water for breaching its environment protection licence by failing to maintain a 1960s-era rising main in proper and efficient condition, resulting in approximately 420kL of wastewater discharging into Carrawood Reserve and Prospect Creek. On the contested issue of environmental harm under s 241(1)(a) POEO Act, the Court characterised the harm as 'moderate' rather than 'severe' (as the EPA contended) or merely 'transient and moderate' (as Sydney Water contended), having regard to the temporary nature of the degradation (approximately 15 days), the already degraded condition of Prospect Creek as an urbanised waterway, and the absence of evidence of permanent ecological damage. On the question of practical measures and foreseeability under s 241(1)(b) and (c), the Court considered whether Sydney Water should have conducted CCTV and ultrasonic inspections of the Rising Main prior to the 2022 incidents, and whether the principle of incontrovertibility precluded findings inconsistent with Moore J's earlier determination that the 2019 failure of the same main was 'unforeseeable'.
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