Warrnambool Sewage Outfall

Reef Dive | Boat access

Warrnambool Sewage Outfall
Mixing Zone Sign

Depth: 2 m (6.56 ft) to 12 m (39 ft)

Level: Open Water and beyond.

The Warrnambool Sewage Outfall dive site is north-west of Thunder Point and about 200 metres south-east of Eagle Rock offshore from the Warrnambool Sewage Treatment Plant run by Wannon Water on Victoria's Shipwreck Coast. Divers should be aware that the plant currently discharges treated effluent to the Southern Ocean via an onshore ocean outfall.

Planned upgrades to the treatment plant in 2021 will allow for the daily discharge to grow from the present 16 megalitres to 28 megalitres per day. The upgrade introduces additional treatment processes to reduce the amount of nutrients going to the ocean. This will reduce the Phosphorus load by 50% and maintain the Nitrogen load at its current level. The outfall point will be extended up to a kilometre into the ocean. The effect on the marine environment and biodiversity in the immediate vicinity will be obvious to divers.

Warrnambool Sewage Outfall Sign

Water quality to the east and west of the treated sewage outfall tends to vary on a day to day basis and diving should be conducted accordingly and with caution.

Location: Warrnambool, Victoria 3280

Ideal Conditions: The Warrnambool Sewage Outfall dive site is prone to surge and swell and is best dived in very good conditions with a low swell with light offshore northerly to easterly winds. See WillyWeather (Thunder Point) as a guide for the tide times and the height of the tide.

Boat Launching: Warrnambool Sewage Outfall and the reefs in the area are best reached by boat from the Port Fairy, Griffiths Street Boat Ramp. While the Warrnambool (Lady Bay) boat ramp is closer, it's also more problematic.

Abalone Dive Site
© Mark Norman, Museum Victoria

Divers have the opportunity to catch Abalone at this dive site. Remember your catch bag, legal abalone tool, current Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence, and abalone measure. Please abide by all current fishing regulations if you intend to catch abalone.

See article-catching-abalone for practical abalone hunting advice from The Scuba Doctor, plus melbourne-abalone-dives for a list of other Abalone dive sites near Melbourne.

Crayfish Dive Site | © Ian Scholey

Divers have the opportunity to catch Southern Rock Lobster (aka Crayfish) at this dive site. Remember your catch bag, current Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence, rock lobster measure, and cray tags. Once you get back to the dive boat, or shore, make sure you clip the tail and tag your Crayfish as per Fisheries requirements. Please abide by all current fishing regulations if you intend to catch crays. See article-catching-crayfish for practical cray hunting advice from The Scuba Doctor, plus melbourne-cray-dives for a list of other crayfish dive sites near Melbourne. For tips on cooking your Crays, please see article-cooking-crayfish.

Eastern Maar country

Traditional Owners — This dive site is in the traditional Country of the Eastern Maar people of south-western Victoria between the Shaw and Eumerella Rivers and from Yambuk in the south to beyond Lake Linlithgow in the north. This truly ancient Country extends as far north as Ararat and encompasses the coastal townships of Port Fairy in the west, Warrnambool, Peterborough, Port Campbell, Apollo Bay, Lorne, and Airies Inlet in the east, including the Great Ocean Road area. It also stretches 100 metres out to sea from low tide and therefore includes the iconic Twelve Apostles. "Eastern Maar" is a name adopted by the people who identify as Maar, Eastern Gunditjmara, Tjap Wurrung, Peek Whurrong, Kirrae Whurrung, Kuurn Kopan Noot and/or Yarro waetch (Tooram Tribe) amongst others. We wish to acknowledge the Eastern Maar as Traditional Owners. We pay respect to their Ancestors and their Elders, past, present and emerging.

 

Warrnambool Sewage Outfall Location Map

Latitude: 38° 23.763′ S   (38.396047° S / 38° 23′ 45.77″ S)
Longitude: 142° 27.406′ E   (142.456771° E / 142° 27′ 24.38″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map
Added: 2021-07-25 13:33:33 GMT, Last updated: 2022-05-24 22:33:43 GMT
Source: GPS (verified)
Nearest Neighbour: Eagle Rock, Warrnambool, 222 m, bearing 299°, WNW
Warrnambool, Shipwreck Coast.
Depth: 2 to 12 m.

DISCLAIMER: No claim is made by The Scuba Doctor as to the accuracy of the dive site coordinates listed here. Should anyone decide to use these GPS marks to locate and dive on a site, they do so entirely at their own risk. Always verify against other sources.

The marks come from numerous sources including commercial operators, independent dive clubs, reference works, and active divers. Some are known to be accurate, while others may not be. Some GPS marks may even have come from maps using the AGD66 datum, and thus may need be converted to the WGS84 datum. To distinguish between the possible accuracy of the dive site marks, we've tried to give each mark a source of GPS, Google Earth, or unknown.