Bayside suburb residents warned against touching bore water
A toxic industrial chemical that stalled the West Gate Tunnel Project has been discovered in groundwater in Melbourne’s bayside suburbs. Now residents have been warned to “avoid contact with the bore water”.
VIC News
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Households in Melbourne’s bayside suburbs have been told to stop using bores after an industrial chemical that stalled the West Gate Tunnel Project was found in groundwater.
Testing during Level Crossing Removal Project works found contamination in Edithvale, Bonbeach and Chelsea, with 5000 households warned about the problem this week.
The Environment Protection Authority said mains water had not been affected, but advised residents with groundwater bores to “avoid contact with the bore water”.
One of the contaminants detected at “elevated” levels is an industrial chemical known as PFAS, which was used in firefighting foams.
It was discovered in geotechnical works along the site of level crossing removals.
At the site of the $6.7 billion West Gate Tunnel, high levels of PFAS found in soil forced the halting of major tunnelling works, with construction giants left scrambling to find landfill sites to dispose contaminated material.
It is unlikely that the latest contamination will stop progress on crossing removals, due to be completed between Edithvale and Chelsea by 2022.
However, residents say the issue is a concern for families who have used the water source on gardens for years.
There are 19 bores in operation in the area, according to water authorities.
A government spokeswoman said the issue was being managed by the EPA.
“This only affects the small number of residents in the area that use bore water — anyone who does should follow the EPA’s advice,” she said.
It is understood the issue of contamination was first raised during environmental checks for level crossing removals in 2018, and that further testing exposed elevated levels of industrial and naturally occurring chemicals such as lead, selenium, hydrocarbons and PFAS.
The EPA continues to investigate the source of the problem, which may have been from industrial sites in the area or CFA stations that used to use foams heavy in chemicals.
The notorious CFA Fiskville training station was shut down in 2015 after heavy contamination of PFOS and PFAS chemicals was found and linked to cancer and other illnesses.
The issue of PFAS has become an ongoing problem for major projects since the WGT Project shutdown, with operators on the North East Link also looking at how to deal with contaminants.
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