DEVELOPERS of the Logis business park in Dandenong South have had to deal with a toxic legacy.
An environmental audit prepared by URS Australia in 2010 outlines the site -—a former waste-water treatment plant — had been highly contaminated prior to recent remediation works.
The plant operated for more than 50 years until it was closed in 1992. Its effluent lagoons collected the region’s heavy industrial waste and sewage, in the ‘wild west’ days before the Environment Protection Authority oversaw pollution.
After a ‘sludge digestion’ process which moved the waste through a series of maturation lagoons, the ‘treated’ liquid was dumped into Dandenong Creek.
What was left in the ponds’ sludge were carcinogenic dioxins, sulfur, ammonia, heavy metals, asbestos and hydrocarbons detected at concentrations above ecological and human health standards.
As part of remediation works, these contaminants were largely buried in the CALM at the south-west corner of the site.
However, the audit of the northern paddocks and former eastern lagoons near Hammond Road found “localised” areas of dioxins remain on the site. It stated they “may have had potential to affect human health in some circumstances if exposed” but “these limited isolated exceedances are not considered to represent a significant risk by the auditor”.
The auditor also found multiple “exceedances” of safe dieldrin, sulphur, ammonia, phenol, arsenic, manganese and cobalt. The site was cleared for industrial and recreational use — paving the way for the business park — but not for “sensitive” uses such as residential, childcare and kindergartens.
Residents Against Toxic Waste in the South East spokeswoman Thelma Wakelam said the plant’s site had long been dormant because it was deemed “too hot to touch”.
She said there needed to be a statewide hazardous waste policy on how to dispose and manage such polluted sites.
Government developer Places Victoria Chief executive Peter Seamer said 100 hectares had been sold for industrial development.
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