Clovelly Park contamination risk repeated in Beverley

The State Liberals have accused the Weatherill Government of repeating the mistakes it made in its handling the Clovelly Park contamination scandal with the threat posed by TCE contamination identified in Beverley.

Yesterday Minister Hunter was questioned in State Parliament about TCE (trichloroethene) soil vapour results in Beverley which found TCE levels to be higher than expected, at up to 97,000 micrograms per square metre.

At the same time the Minister also admitted that a critical report into the TCE contamination in Beverley would be late.

Speaking on ABC radio at the height of the Clovelly Park scandal Tony Circelli CEO of the EPA commented: that there are very high levels of vapour in the soil that really need to be dealt with ... they range for quite low to 50,000 to even higher than that. (ABC 891 21 July 2014)

“Once again the Weatherill Government has failed to investigate a threat to the health of people living in a contamination zone in a timely fashion,” said Shadow Minister for Environment Michelle Lensink.

TCE contamination at Beverley was first identified in December 2007. TCE contamination at Clovelly Park was first identified in 2008.

“Eight years after Beverley residents were first warned not to use bore water due to TCE contamination in the groundwater the Labor Government is still yet to give residents the all clear,” said Ms Lensink.

“It simply not good enough that the residents of Beverley have been left waiting for yet another month regarding the extent of TCE contamination under their homes.”

Mr WHETSTONE: The EPA commenced further investigations into the groundwater and soil vapour contamination at Beverly in 2014, and soil vapour results have been found to be higher than expected, with the TCE levels at about 97,000 micrograms in the worst examples. Minister, you informed the parliament this month that a human health risk assessment is expected from the EPA in late July. Has this report been received as yet and, if so, can you provide an update?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: My advice is that the report has been delayed because we wanted to get some more sampling, and so it is going to be delayed until late August.