Have your say on Bega Valley council's $40m ocean outfall for Merimbula

He said he wanted to hear from SWAMP; he understood the group had a revised view and he wanted this to be a really consultative process.

The EIS identifies two main elements of the ocean outfall project, the level of treatment at the Merimbula Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) and the location of the disposal .

Following input from a community working group and an engineering workshop, three levels of treatment were selected along with the North-Short option for the ocean outfall which would be a about 3.5km long.

The three levels of treatment are inclusive of dual-point phosphorous removal, tertiary filtration, and UV disinfection upgrade.

Council selected North-Short as the preferred option for the outfall saying that it achieved "a desired level of water quality performance".

In addition the artificial reef, installed in September 2018, is "well outside the nominal 500m radius" and avoiding the artificial reef was preferable for both biodiversity and construction, council said.

The proposed pipe from the Merimbula STP will be installed underground using horizontal directional drilling, project manager Will Nicholls said.

He explained that the pipe would be at a depth of at least 5m and would not impact any Aboriginal heritage or cultural artefacts that exist in the adjacent dunes.

The pipe would emerge on the sea bed near the break and would be covered by a concrete/rock mattress before reaching a submerged diffuser.

Mr Best said council was supportive of increasing beneficial re-use of treated waste water but would still need to have an ocean outfall, particularly for wet weather periods, when treated wastewater re-use schemes cannot irrigate.

The EIS states: "Additional re-use schemes or storage would not remove the need for a sustainable disposal system at Merimbula for times when there is little demand for treated wastewater.This experience is reflected at the wastewater re-use schemes (Pambula Merimbula Golf Club grounds and Oaklands agricultural irrigation area) currently supplied by the Merimbula STP."

Not surprisingly costs have increased from earlier projections of $30m with Mr Best saying current estimates were for a little over $40m.

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"We're working with state partners and have 25 per cent of costs from the Safe and Secure Water Program," he said.

The report has been reviewed by experts at the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, and it is now ready for community feedback.

It is on public exhibition until September 21 and can be accessed, with a link to the NSW government's submissions' portal via council's Have Your Say webpage.

Once all submissions are received, including those from government agencies such as Fisheries and the Office of Environment and Heritage, they will be collated and the entire document with submissions will go back to the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment for its assessment.

This may take several months before a recommendation is sent to the Minister who will determine an outcome and any conditions should it be approved.

Mr Best said any feedback will be collected by the NSW government.

"All comments will be considered and any changes to the EIS will be incorporated before a ministerial determination is made. Your voice counts - and now is your chance to tell the NSW government what you think," he said.

To read a summary of the Environmental Impact Statement's findings, the full report and a link to the NSW government's submissions portal, visit council's Have Your Say webpage.