Mirrabooka - contaminated groundwater
2331. Hon Alison Xamon to the Parliamentary Secretary representing the Minister for Water
I refer the answer given to question without notice No. 121, regarding contaminated groundwater in Mirrabooka, and ask —
(1) In May 1997 the then Minister for the Environment Mrs Cheryl Edwardes, closed the Atlas landfill site to putrescible waste and acknowledged the likelihood that due to the unlined construction of the site, waste would contribute to groundwater contamination. The Minister has advised that groundwater is moving at 700m per year (two metres per day) through the superficial aquifer. On what hydrogeological model was this figure derived?
(2) Since 1997, how far is the contaminated groundwater plume expected to travel, at the advised rate of flow?
(3) What linkages between the superficial aquifer and deeper Leederville aquifer occur in a five kilometres radius of the Atlas site?
(4) If no actual geological knowledge for this location in the aquifer, what are the implied linkages contained and accommodated within the Perth Regional Aquifer Modelling System Version 2.0?
(5) Where are the predicted geographical boundaries of the contaminated groundwater plume, and have residents within this area been personally and individually advised to avoid extracting potentially contaminated groundwater?
(6) What are the expected contaminants found in the contaminated groundwater extending from the Atlas landfill site?
(7) What are the public health and environmental health impacts from contact with contaminants that may be found in the contaminated groundwater plume?
(8) Precisely how many groundwater bores are extracting groundwater from the contaminated groundwater plume?
(9) The Government Department with responsibility for managing the State’s water resources should know how much water is being extracted from the superficial aquifer. How can the Department of Water be said to be managing water resources, if it does not know how many residents may potentially have a memorial placed on their land title due to groundwater contamination?
(10) How many residents within the predicted geographical boundaries of the contaminated groundwater plume are imputed to utilise a groundwater bore into the superficial aquifer and are recorded as such on the Water Corporation residential groundwater bore dataset?
(11) What measures has the Department of Water put in place to determine the potential impact of the spreading contaminated groundwater plume?
(12) What measures has the Department of Water put in place to mitigate the potential impact of the spreading contaminated groundwater plume?
(13) How many land titles with memorials indicating contamination from groundwater is an acceptable outcome for the management of groundwater in this area?
(14) What is the Minister doing to manage groundwater quality in the Mirrabooka area?
(15) How many groundwater monitoring bores specifically measuring water quality are located in the predicted area of the groundwater contamination plume?
(16) Where are they located and at what depths are water quality data being recorded for each site?
(17) What groundwater quality indicators are measured?
(18) How often are they measured?
(19) Will the Minister immediately table the complete results of groundwater quality monitoring for the area potentially impacted by the contaminated groundwater plume since licensed landfill activity was commenced at the Atlas landfill site?
(20) If no to (18), why not?
(21) When a parcel of land is burdened with a memorial and superficial groundwater bores on that land parcel are decommissioned, what provisions are put in place to replace or substitute the non-potable water supply for that land parcel?
(22) How many similar instances for replacement or substitution of non-potable supply currently exist in the Perth metropolitan area?
(23) What are the State budgetary implications for replacement or substitution of non-potable supply?
Hon HELEN MORTON replied:
The Member's request for detailed data, broken down for the member and presented in a format that is not collated or reported elsewhere, and categorised especially according to the member's desire, is not reasonable.
I do not propose to divert Department of Water staff away from their duties providing water services to Western Australians, in order to undertake this clerical task for the member.
The Minister for Water invites the Member to seek a verbal briefing by the Department of Water on this matter; contaminated groundwater in Mirrabooka.