Paralowie mum Julie Day’s home engulfed by truck dust

Recent development approvals have led to a family home being engulfed by ‘debilitating’ dust, leaving them choking when larger gusts billow through.

When Julie Day hears a truck approaching her home she battens down the hatches in an attempt to stop a wave of dust billowing in through the back door.

The Paralowie woman’s home backs onto Deuter Road, a semi-unsealed service road, frequented by trucks that she said caused gusts of dirt to coat the inside of her home, shed, solar panels and cars.

Mrs Day said a Salisbury Council approval to allow two more businesses along the road had led to an increase in truck frequency and size, leading to an issue she had been rallying against for almost a decade to become exacerbated.

“My first thought when a truck turns down the road is, ‘oh, f*** off’ because you know there’s going to be noise and dust and everything not far away,” she said.

“You can’t even utilise the clothesline because that’s absolutely pointless, you’ve got to hose off the plants and it comes in through the aircon – it’s like it’s snowing.

Paralowie mother Julie Day says her house is swamped by dust when trucks go by. Picture: Brinley Duggan

Dirt coats all surfaces in the Day's house. Picture: Brinley Duggan

“It’s like a wave coming over and just dumping (dirt) in, and we get up and you’ve just got to shut the doors and windows.”

Window sills and countertops inside the house were layered with a brown dirt-like dust and Mrs Day said it meant she had to clean the house almost daily.

She said her 16-year-old son’s room copped the worst of the issue and she held fears for his respiratory health.

“You hear the alerts for people to stay inside when there’s a dust storm or something and I just think, ‘I put up with this every day’,” she said.

“I keep wanting to leave because every time it comes to summer time or the road’s dry it’s just awful.

“It’s debilitating and depressing – it’s like we’re living in a third world country.”

Mrs Day said she had been in ongoing contact with the council to resolve the issue but about a decade later she was still facing the problem.

The approval of two new businesses on the road has increased the amount and size of trucks. Picture: Brinley Duggan

Parts of Deuter Road have been sealed while other parts are not. Picture: Brinley Duggan

An application for another business to commence operation on the road was granted by the council assessment panel in June last year provided all driveways were concreted, bituminised or had compacted rubble.

That business is undergoing construction.

Part of Deuter Road was bituminised several years ago when the dust presented a previous problem.

Mrs Day said the compacted rubble had not had an impact on the increased traffic, and pleaded for the entire road to be sealed.

Council deputy mayor Chad Buchanan, who is also the suburb’s ward councillor, said he was aware of the concerns and had raised them when the latest application was made.

“Residents should be able to hang their washing out without having dust blowing all over it every time a truck drives past,” he said.

“I have formally requested staff to bring back a report and costing to seal all of this road to help address the issue raised by local residents.”

The council was contacted for comment.