A parliamentary question addresses potential lead recontamination in Esperance following a cleanup, with the Minister responding that an investigation is underway to determine the source of the lead and whether the initial cleanup was inadequate.

AnsweredQoN 525Legislative Assembly
Asked
25 September 2007
Portfolio
Planning and Infrastructure

QuestionView source ↗

ESPERANCE LEAD DUST POLLUTION
I have a supplementary question. Does the minister concede there has been lead recontamination of Esperance due to the inadequate clean-up? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN

AnswerView source ↗

I do not know what the member means by “recontamination”. I do know that we have a result from four rainwater tanks that shows a lead concentration in them. At this point the government does not know whether or not the cleaning process was inadequate or whether there is some other source of lead, which is why there will be a thorough investigation of exactly what the source of the lead in those rainwater tanks was. The government would not serve the community of Esperance well - Dr K.D. Hames : It is not just in the tanks . Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Wherever it is found, it will be investigated, including doing the isotope test to make sure we know exactly what sort of lead we are dealing with. This must be done in a methodical and scientific way, and that is the way we will continue to approach it.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: I do not know what the member means by “recontamination”. I do know that we have a result from four rainwater tanks that shows a lead concentration in them. At this point the government does not know whether or not the cleaning process was inadequate or whether there is some other source of lead, which is why there will be a thorough investigation of exactly what the source of the lead in those rainwater tanks was. The government would not serve the community of Esperance well - Dr K.D. Hames : It is not just in the tanks . Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Wherever it is found, it will be investigated, including doing the isotope test to make sure we know exactly what sort of lead we are dealing with. This must be done in a methodical and scientific way, and that is the way we will continue to approach it.
I do not know what the member means by “recontamination”. I do know that we have a result from four rainwater tanks that shows a lead concentration in them. At this point the government does not know whether or not the cleaning process was inadequate or whether there is some other source of lead, which is why there will be a thorough investigation of exactly what the source of the lead in those rainwater tanks was. The government would not serve the community of Esperance well - Dr K.D. Hames : It is not just in the tanks . Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Wherever it is found, it will be investigated, including doing the isotope test to make sure we know exactly what sort of lead we are dealing with. This must be done in a methodical and scientific way, and that is the way we will continue to approach it.
Dr K.D. Hames : It is not just in the tanks . Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Wherever it is found, it will be investigated, including doing the isotope test to make sure we know exactly what sort of lead we are dealing with. This must be done in a methodical and scientific way, and that is the way we will continue to approach it.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : Wherever it is found, it will be investigated, including doing the isotope test to make sure we know exactly what sort of lead we are dealing with. This must be done in a methodical and scientific way, and that is the way we will continue to approach it.

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