Sunshine residents are concerned a former quarry over which Sunshine Plaza shopping centre was built was not properly cleared of toxic chemicals beforehand.
The residents, led by long-term community advocates John Hedditch and Sean Spencer, have lodged a petition with the state government calling for groundwater flow and contamination testing of a 500-metre radius to the south and east of the former quarry site.
Mr Hedditch said the site, formerly Roberts Quarry, regularly had a range of toxic chemicals dumped into it from the large Massey Ferguson factory site during the 1950s through to the early ’80s.
Mr Hedditch is concerned that the site was not properly remediated before construction of the plaza, and he fears toxic vapours from contaminated groundwater could be rising
into nearby homes and causing health problems.
The petition was compiled after 31 homes in Clovelly Park, Adelaide, were evacuated earlier this year when toxic chemicals present in groundwater and soil vapour were confirmed to be a public health risk.
“We are led to believe it [the old quarry] was never properly remediated before the Sunshine Plaza was built and these toxic chemicals therefore remain in the groundwater,” Mr Hedditch said.
“Given the scale of toxic contamination that occurred at the quarry site for decades … people want the groundwater tested to see whether the risks to human health are as high as people think they are. That way any
problems can be dealt with properly.”
Spokesman Terry Sefton said the EPA was currently reviewing its records in relation to the Sunshine Plaza site and other sites in the vicinity to determine groundwater conditions.
“There is no environmental audit for the Sunshine Plaza site as it was constructed in the early 1980s before the introduction of the Victorian environmental audit system,” Mr Sefton said.
Brimbank council city development director Stuart Menzies said the council was aware of concerns and was liaising with the EPA.
