Businesses in Port Stephens are losing valuable tourist dollars after council workers struck the wrong pipe, spilling hundreds of thousands of litres of raw sewage into the bay.
Beaches are likely to remain closed at the popular coastal holiday spot near Newcastle until at least Thursday.
Council workers were doing an excavation when a sewerage main was damaged on Monday morning, sending 225,000 litres of sewage into a car park on the foreshore and into the ocean.
According to Port Stephens Council and Hunter Water, which are monitoring the water quality at the beaches, it is still unsafe to go swimming and do water sports.
While the stench has gone, it has proved to be a major setback for local businesses during the first good spell of warm weather for about a month.
Beach closure impacts local businesses
The leak has forced Splash Waterpark to close and the operator said it was costing the business up to $12,000 a day.
The water park was expecting 500 to 600 entrants a day this week.
The Little Dolphin Cafe is on the waterfront and Tracy Blundell said business had dropped off dramatically at what was normally a very busy time of the year.
"It's actually probably dropped our business by about 80 per cent," she said.
"[Normally there are] families, children, the beach is full, the water park is jumping and everyone is coming to have coffees. So that isn't happening any more after that event."
Tourists disappointed they can't dive in
One beachgoer said local authorities rushed to get everyone off the beach straight away.
"I was like five minutes on the beach and then we had to go. Not fair for me," she said.
"They didn't tell us what happened on the beach, they just said there's been an incident and we had to get off."
Laura Jones and her family had just arrived from the Central Coast for a summer vacation.
"So we were hoping just to walk across to the beach and take the kids across for a swim," she said.
"But now the beach is closed we'll probably have to get in the car and go for a drive, which is a bit annoying."
