EXPLOSIVES chemicals have polluted groundwater in part of a Melbourne
suburb, with the Environment Protection Authority unsure how far the
contamination has spread and residents not told of it.
The authority said it was unable to say whether the
groundwater posed a health risk before new testing at the site was
completed next year.
The EPA has been strongly criticised in a series of letters
from state Ombudsman George Brouwer for failures in monitoring the
clean-up of the former Albion Explosives Factory site, which now forms
the suburb of Cairnlea in Melbourne's west.
The Ombudsman's investigation into the clean-up has raised
serious questions about the performance of the EPA in monitoring how
large contaminated sites are dealt with.
His letters sent in 2011 to the EPA, obtained under a
freedom-of-information request, catalogue system failures at the
authority, including in relation to the security of samples from
contaminated sites.
''The chain of custody forms related to the validation samples collected were not complete,'' the Ombudsman found.
He also said the EPA had been unable to provide documents
showing where contaminated material had been ''removed, transported and
deposited appropriately''.
The Ombudsman was particularly critical of the fact the
authority had engaged the same company that dealt with contamination
at the site to later carry out tests there after a complaint was made
about the quality of the clean-up.
''In particular, I am concerned that the validation sampling
was undertaken by Golder and Mr [name deleted] with very little
oversight by the EPA despite the fact that both these contractors were
involved in the remedial work complained about,'' Mr Brouwer said in a
letter to the EPA
.
The Ombudsman also questioned why a report on the condition
of a contaminated soil dump at the Cairnlea site was still not completed
years after the ''repository'' had been completed.
A new report detailing the extent of the groundwater
pollution and the condition of the ''repository'' at Cairnlea will not
be completed until next year.
The authority would not say if there were water bores used in
the area, and said residents would be notified about the water
contamination when it became clear if the groundwater had been cleaned
up as much as possible.
Soil testing in other areas of the suburb did not return samples of concern.
In a December 2011 letter to the Ombudsman, EPA chief
executive John Merritt said while the extent of groundwater
contamination at Cairnlea was not known, ''monitoring of Kororoit Creek
itself shows no measurable impact, that is, there has been no detection
of explosives in it''.
The authority also told the Ombudsman it was trialling a new
''risk-based'' approach to monitoring of auditors and reviewing audit
reports, with the criteria for review including ''high level of
community interest''.
The criticisms of the performance of the EPA come as the
state government is planning a multibillion-dollar development at
another former munitions factory site - the 128-hectare former defence
complex in Maribyrnong.
After almost a century of explosives production, about ''25
per cent of the surface area of the site is contaminated'' and
groundwater is also contaminated.
The clean-up of the Maribyrnong site - planned to
accommodate 3000 homes - could take up to five years and cost up to $20
million.
A source familiar with the site described the Defence
Department's clean-up time frame as ''optimistic, ambitious and
unrealistic''.
He said the most common and cost-effective clean-up method
for large contaminated sites was to not remove the contaminated soil but
instead ''shandy'' the soil to reduce contamination levels.
He said contaminated soil was also sometimes pushed to one location on the site, ''capped and called a park''.
It is not just Defence sites where the EPA will be monitoring
the clean-up. The 16.5-hectare Amcor site in Alphington - also believed
to be heavily contaminated - will close by the end of the year with
plans to sell it for development.
One developer is believed to have proposed covering the site in cement to deal with the contamination issue.
theage.com.au 1 Nov 2012
Information has been obtained by corpau that the government has been fully aware of the toxic levels for decades.
Since this land was marked for residential development, the information concerning toxicity had to be covered up, as this would cost millions in losses if the extent was known to the masses.
There are many other examples of this kind of government cover up.
There should be an 'independent' inquiry, which would expose the individuals concerned.
Since this is a government policy to defraud and cover up, if an inquiry was to be undertaken, it would be inconclusive.
