It was good news for Nelson Bay locals, visitors and businesses on Friday as beaches reopened in time for the weekend after a sewage leak shut the stretch on Monday.
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Beaches from Little Nelson Bay to Fly Point reopened yesterday ahead of the final full week of the school holidays after Port Stephens Council received water quality test results back showing the water had returned to normal levels at those locations. SPLASH Waterpark is also set to reopen today.
But the marina foreshore is set to remain shut for the time being, and businesses are counting their losses from the five day beach closure during the busy school holiday period.
The leak occurred when a sewer main was damaged during excavation works in the marina car park, which came at an unfortunate time as sunny skies appeared after weeks of dreary weather.
The Dolphin Watch Cafe, which overlooks the Nelson Bay marina, reported a huge decrease in customers from the incident.
Cafe manager Eser Dinkciler said the business relied on foot traffic from the nearby beaches and waterpark, which had all been closed this week.
"I estimate it's had a 90 per cent per cent affect on the business," Mr Dinkciler said.
"The week before there was too much rain.
"On Sunday the weather was perfect, it was very busy. Then it happened on Monday.
"This time is usually when I make money. But we've been closing early because no one is swimming and the water park is closed."
He said it was another hard blow after getting through the losses from COVID-19.
"There's normally plenty of Chinese and Korean people coming from Sydney for whale watch and dolphin watch, but not this year," he said.
Mr Dinkciler said he expected to be busy today with the beaches reopening, but that the drop in takings had been tough.
"Five days everybody lost business that we can't bring back," he said.
The council said water quality had "improved significantly" at Nelson Bay marina but that a decision had been made to keep the foreshore closed for recreational activities over the weekend as a precaution.
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