New Welsh Water boss was previously sacked by a firm with ongoing pollution problems

The Australian water company that sacked the new chief executive of Dwr Cymru Welsh Water has an antiquated sewerage system that caused the creation of polluting “poo balls”, a secret report concluded.

Nation.Cymru reported in August 2025 how Roch Cheroux was dismissed as head of Sydney Water and had been accused by a trade union of being responsible for a “toxic” workplace culture.

Australian Services Union (ASU) Secretary for New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory Angus McFarland said: “Cheroux’s tenure saw an explosion of outsourcing, relentless attacks on workers’ rights, and a workplace culture that reached breaking point.

“Sydney Water is a vital public asset, yet under Cheroux’s watch, it has been hollowed out. Worker morale has plummeted, wages and conditions have been under siege, and taxpayer money has been squandered on private consultants. Instead of investing in a skilled internal workforce, Sydney Water has increasingly relied on an expensive and secretive panel of preferred contractors, some linked to Cheroux’s previous employers,”

Dwr Cymru nevertheless gave Mr Cheroux a ringing endorsement, with a statement saying: “Welsh Water undertook a comprehensive and competitive recruitment process that included both internal and external candidates, supported by an independent executive recruitment agency. The selection was based on merit, experience, and alignment with the company’s long-term strategic goals.

“Roch’s departure from Sydney Water followed the appropriate notice and transition processes. His tenure there spanned six years during which he led the organisation through significant operational and environmental challenges, including drought conditions, bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Crisis

But there was an additional crisis affecting Sydney Water that wasn’t mentioned by Dwr Cymru.

A report from the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority (EPA) identified the origin of “poo balls” that washed up on Sydney beaches in the summer months of October 2024 to February 2025, and led to them being closed down. The report identified the likely origin of the poo balls as Sydney Water’s Malabar wastewater treatment plant.

An article in Guardian Australia, which obtained the report via Australian freedom of information legislation, states: “In the late 19th century, sewage was pumped into the harbour itself.

“In the early 20th century, pumping stations were built to direct sewage straight to cliff face outfalls. The Bondi, Malabar and North Head primary treatment plants were constructed in the middle of last century.

“After that, turds, sometimes seen floating in the water at Bondi beach, were colloquially known as ‘Bondi cigars’. The ocean beaches became infamously polluted and incidences of ear infections were not uncommon. Malabar beach, for example, was completely unswimmable.

In the first half of the 1900s, the mantra “the solution to pollution is dilution” ruled. The idea was that harmful chemicals and pollutants could be dealt with by spreading them out in the environment.

Now, that approach is derided as outdated and, often, dangerous.

But that approach is still how Sydney deals with most of the 1.5bn litres of sewage the city produces each day. The eastern Australian current then dilutes the sewage and, generally, carries it south.

Outfalls

Many decades later, Sydney decided, mainly for cash reasons, not to upgrade the sewage treatment centres, as many cities both in Australia and other countries did – Singapore, for example, treats wastewater to such a high quality that it’s drinkable – but instead to build deepwater ocean outfalls and dump the waste further out to sea.

The poo balls were accumulating 2.3km off the coastline and carried back to shore by waves and wind.

Experts say Sydney Water should better treat wastewater before sending it offshore. The University of Sydney’s Prof Stuart Khan told the Guardian that the primary treatment used at Sydney’s sewage plants is a purely “physical process”.

“You have a very large tank, and the raw sewage comes in at one end and flows through,” said Khan, who chairs the New South Wales government’s independent water advisory panel.

“When sewage is flowing quite slowly and gently, some of the solid material that’s suspended in it will start to sink to the bottom of the tank, just under gravity.”

‘Recycling’

Jeff Angel of the Australian campaigning environment group The Total Environment Centre told the Guardian: “The deepwater outfalls are old school technology and our sewerage system needs to be modernised. This should mean a higher level of treatment, but also and importantly, much more recycling.”

It’s fair to say that in Mr Cheroux, who has started his new job this month, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water – which has had its own problems keeping on the right side of environmental law – has truly found someone with relevant experience.