Environmental assessment works for more Adelaide suburbs
Suburbs being assessed are Brighton, Thebarton and South-eastern Edwardstown
Brighton
There is a continued focus on environmental assessments across Adelaide with the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) beginning works at Brighton, south of the CBD.
The environmental assessment activities began in March to determine if contamination exists in the area.
The EPA is aware that an area within the suburb, bounded by Jetty Road, Brighton Road and The Crescent, has known chemicals such as tetrachloroethene (also known as PCE) detected in soil vapour. These chemicals are generally linked to historical industrial use and manufacturing activities, including dry cleaning.
The assessment activity will determine the nature and extent of the soil vapour contamination.
The works being done will provide further information about any risk to human health and if groundwater is impacted by PCE which can move up through the soil as vapour.
The assessment area includes about 150 properties, a mix of residential and commercial premises.
Environmental assessment activities in the area are part of a prioritised program developed to investigate orphan sites where the EPA has enough information about previous land use to call for assessments to determine if there is a potential health risk.
Environmental assessments under this program have occurred across metropolitan Adelaide including Unley, Edwardstown, Thebarton, Glenelg East, Hendon and Beverly/Woodville West and Woodville South.
South-Eastern Edwardstown
Residents were this month provided with welcome news that all properties in the area are safe from soil vapour intrusion.
The results follow extensive testing as part of the EPA’s priority program to determine if groundwater has been contaminated with trichloroethene (TCE).
Thebarton
Stage 2 of environmental assessments are being carried out in Thebarton, just west of the Adelaide’s CBD, as part of continued monitoring of groundwater and soil vapour contamination in that area. The works will commence this month and will provide seasonal information on soil vapour data.
Last year a small number of homes were found to have trichloroethene (TCE) detected in residential indoor air. A state of the art mitigation system is currently being installed in these properties.
