Two families have been evacuated from their Tuggeranong homes after arsenic residue from an old sheep dip was found.
The arsenic levels were found to be higher than the recommended levels.The ACT Government has offered to buy the houses from the families. In the meantime it has found, and paid for, alternative accommodation.
ANU chemistry professor Ben Selinger said arsenic was not an immediate threat to life and limb but if children were crawling about the garden and sticking their hands in their mouths “”you have got to be concerned”. Arsenic was a long-term problem and could chronic problems because it took so long to leave the body _ through the hair and fingernails.
The arsenic problem was uncovered earlier this year when the Minders of Tuggeranong Homestead pointed out that housing on the site would be unsuitable because of a former sheep dip which had been used for decades when sheep dips contained more harmful chemicals.
MOTH enlisted the Canberra Conservation Council which sought an ACT-wide survey.
The Government responded with an investigation and a draft plan for contaminated sites management.
The Minister for Environment, Land and Planning, Bill Wood, said that to date 13 sites had been found, six in residential areas.
These had been uncovered through old aerial photos, survey maps, ranger records and anecdotal evidence.
Preliminary tests identified sites in Holder, Ngunnawal, Theodore, Chapman and Isabella Plains.
When a more detailed second round of testing revealed over-the-limit arsenic in two houses at one site, departmental officers acted immediately to relocate the families and remove the financial worry by organising the buy-out.
Detailed testing is continuing at the other sites and residents being kept informed.
The evacuated families have requested privacy.
Professor Selinger said arsenic and DDT were problems where suburbs spread to former farm sites. There were 1600 cattle dip sites along the NSW-Queensland border, for example, built so that cattle did not have to walk too far to get dipped.
The draft plan proposes a “”polluter pays” principle, but recognises there will be “”orphan sites” where the polluter cannot be identified which government would have to deal with.
The draft uses Australia and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council and National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines.
The draft calls for temporary relocation of residents during the comprehensive testing stage; that residents be fully informed and that a system be set up to alert current and potential lessees of possible or confirmed contamination sites.
It is likely that requisitions about “”contaminated-site” notifications will be incorporated into ACT conveyancing procedure for people buying houses.
The draft recommends a study on whether lease titles should be stamped with caveats detailing knowledge of contamination on leases.