EPA report reveals more about Clovelly Park contamination scare and how they plan to lift their game

AN air sample test in a vacant home that measured dangerous vapours at 42 times the acceptable level triggered the evacuation of 31 Clovelly Park properties last July.

AN air sample test in a vacant home that measured dangerous vapours at 42 times the acceptable level triggered the evacuation of 31 Clovelly Park properties last July.

A report on the contamination scare, and what has been learnt from it, shows the trichloroethene vapour test result of 84 micrograms per cubic meter of air was so high that it led experts to deem four years of previous testing inadequate.

The tests from a back bedroom in the abandoned house at 10 Chestnut Avenue revealed the regimen of single sample testing to be “inadequate to demonstrate the risk of exposure to residents was low” because it varied so much, both over and under the acceptable rate of 2 micrograms per cubic meter.

The response was to move the mainly Housing SA residents out, but that action only came six months after the alarm was raised, the Site Contamination Review Committee report, released on Tuesday reveals.

EPA chief executive Tony Circelli says the Clovelly Park contamination saga presented a “perfect storm of problems” for authorities and the review committee had found that the biggest mistake made was not talking to residents about the dangers sooner.

The review recommends more information be shared with residents sooner where legacy site contamination poses a risk, even if the experts do not have all the facts.

EPA chief executive Tony Circelli said the Clovelly Park contamination scare — first brought to light by The Advertiser in March 2011 — had proven challenging and communications around it had not been well handled.

“It’s the first time — anywhere in Australia — that we’ve been confronted with a problem of that scale,’’ Mr Circelli said.

“It was a difficult site in that there were a number of stakeholders and a number of sources of the issue. It was a difficult issue as there have been no other significant soil vapour issues we’ve dealt with.

“And the release of the information didn’t go out the way it should have been provided. It was the, bad, perfect storm.”

Review committee chair Cheryl Batagol — also chair of EPA Victoria — said the Clovelly Park case was rare.

“It is true that vapour intrusion into households is not something that we see much of in Australia,’’ she said. “Vapour intrusion is an emerging risk.’’

EPA chairwoman Mia Handshin said the Clovelly Park saga “created huge amounts of angst and anxiety” with the residents there and there was a need for clearer communication with the community.

EPA research suggests there are five sites in Adelaide where there is potential for TCE vapours to affect homes, one in Elizabeth stemming from the Holden factory being the largest with “thousands of homes” built above it.

The risk at Elizabeth is far less than at Clovelly Park because it has, so far, been determined that the TCE vapours have not found their way into homes.

The Site Contamination Review Committee has made 11 recommendations to the EPA Board, including greater community consultation, collaboration between the EPA and SA Health to tackle pollution which poses a risk to public health, using existing across-government mechanisms such as the Hazard Leader approach under the State Emergency Management Committee, and more use of water prohibitation areas where groundwater contamination is known.

Only two houses in Chestnut Avenue remain occupied while the others are empty and secured with perspex plates over the windows. None of the remaining residents were home on Monday but it is known one of the homes still being lived in has been home to the same family for more than 20 years.