For our March outing we will take a guided tour of the North Head Sewage Treatment Plant, operated by Sydney Water. This tour should provide a fascinating insight into the philosophy and technology of an essential aspect of city life. A measure of the plant's success is that we are largely unaware of it, despite it treating a volume of wastewater equal to that produce by 1.2 million people. Nevertheless it maintains a difficult relationship with the local community.

The site began life as a pipe connecting Sydney's sewers to the ocean, but has been developed into a technological marvel which employs about 50 staff and, as well as treating the sewage, manages stormwater, generates electricity both from methane and from a hydro-electric generator, and scrubs odour.

Sydney Water is very safety concious, and has provided us with a list of safety requirements which are available from the tour organiser. In particular they insist on fully enclosed footware.

We will meet at Epping station to catch the 08:03 train on platform 5 to St Leonards, transferring to the 144 bus to Manly and the 135 Bus to the plant. Afterwards we can return to Manly for lunch at individual expense at a democratically selected venue such as the Ivanhoe hotel.

There will be no charge for the visit. However those intending to join the tour should still register, as the plant require us to submit a list of attendees for OH&S purposes, and also the tour organiser can then advise members of any last minute changes.