Global Toxicity: Chemicals – A

Worldwide Nightmare

(Highlighting the Castlereagh Waste

Management Centre and its Impact on

Londonderry Sydney)

By

Murray S. Thompson

(poisonedpeople@gmail.com; http://poisonedpeople.com &

http://poisoningandlegalaction.com.au)

BAppSci Environmental Health with Distinction 1998; Hons I Social

Ecology 1999

University of Western Sydney

Cover photo: Castlereagh Waste Management Centre by Stephen Paul

Dawe

To:

What’s left of the natural environment,

And a renaissance in unlearning

This document is copyrighted under the title: GLOBAL TOXICITY:

CHEMICALS – A WORLDWIDE NIGHTMARE (HIGHLIGHTING THE

CASTLEREAGH WASTE MANAGEMENT CENTRE AND ITS IMPACT ON

LONDONDERRY, SYDNEY)

Second Edition ISBN 0‐646‐23801‐9 by Murray S. Thompson Copyright

© 1998 (Revised: 2012/13) by Murray S. Thompson. All rights

reserved. This book is protected by copyright. No part of it (other

than fair use for student assignments and reviews) may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any

means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, scanning, recording, or

otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Published

by Murray S. Thompson

Preamble

Please note that I use spelling throughout this document (excepting for

quotes) in accordance with The Heritage Illustrated Dictionary of the

English Language, International Edition (American Heritage Publishing Co.,

Inc. 1975).

This means, necessarily, that I use American spelling, not English/Australian.

Acknowledgements

Various staff and students at the University of Western Sydney –

Hawkesbury, and other individuals have provided invaluable assistance

toward the furtherance of this ongoing study. This assistance has been

provided in the form of fieldwork, the highly practical arena where

important soil and water samples are gathered.

Also, water and soil tests in the University laboratories have added

valuable data over the years. In other areas, private citizens have

partaken in interviews, and offered opportunities for soil and water

testing. Without these many participants, no hard data or first‐hand

information could have been effectively garnered to be used as the basis

for analyses.

In 1995, agriculture students participating in many of the above

contributions were: Joanne Adams, Rachel Austin, Leah de Glas, and Erin

Shonk. Faculty of Agriculture (now Faculty of Environmental

Management and Agriculture) staff member and Senior Technical

Officer, Mark Emanuel, was particularly helpful in 1995 with regard to

the water tests performed revealing unusual levels of sodium chloride

and low‐range phosphorus.

In 1996, the students who provided valuable assistance (noted

specifically throughout the assignment), were: Stephen Paul Dawe and

Shahrooz Nouri. Science and Technology staff members Sharon

Birmingham (Senior Technical Officer), Sue Cusbert (Technical Officer)

and Sharon Armstrong (Laboratory Technician), were exceedingly helpful

with regard to soil and water testing (also noted specifically throughout),

particularly bore water heavy metals tests.

Further thanks go to Mr. Alan mills and Ms. Marian Streicher.

My grateful thanks to all concerned.

PREFACE

This assignment is based on a past study of a significant local issue,

this being the operation of the Castlereagh Liquid Waste Disposal

Depot (located in Londonderry/Berkshire Park, on the north‐west

edge of Sydney, Australia).

During 1995, when studying Systems Agriculture at this University, I

became aware of the volatile nature of this environmental, agricultural,

community and political issue. The issue centers on a considerable list of

alleged problems associated with the waste dump. These problems have

been described (by landholders living around the waste depot, the

media, student and professional science research) in terms of pollution

leachate moving onto properties surrounding the dump. From the

perspective of local landholders, extraordinary and disturbing

occurrences on their properties relate to toxic effects arising from liquid

waste. In the minds of many in the community surrounding the dump

(including residents in ‘non‐affected’ areas), the source of the chemical

pollution is the Castlereagh dump located geographically at the center

of the affected properties.

CONTENTS (page numbers are approximate only, as this work has been changed

electronically/digitally over time)

Executive Summary 1

1. Description of the Project/Program 2

HISTORY OF WASTE SITE 2

Location and Setting 2

Chronology 2

CURRENT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES 3

Landfill Management 4

Construction of Waste Cells 4

Water Management 4

Leachate Control, Collection and Disposal 4

Landfill Gas Control 5

Premises Associated With Management Practices 5

The Safety Premise 5

Problems with Premise 5

ENVIRONMENTAL AND HUMAN HEALTH STUDIES 6

Human Health 6

Animal and Soil Health 6

2. Impacts of the Landuse Project on the Environment

and Politics 7

Introduction 7

Impacts Discussion 7

DIRECT, NEGATIVE IMPACT ON LOCAL LANDUSE 7

UNSAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR RESIDENTS 8

SAFEGUARDS? 8

ISSUE IMPACT ON POLITICS – GOVERNMENT RESPONSE 8

Calls for Inquiry and Contradictory Test Results 8

Handicapped Inquiry 9

Community Monitoring Committee and Human Health Study 9

LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT GROUPS 10

RAGE 10

Greenpeace and Geology 11

INDICATORS OF SEVERE GROUNDWATER POLLUTION 12

HUMAN/ANIMAL/PLANT PHYSIOLOGIC POISONING NEAR DEPOT: Part 1 12

Human Health 12

Animal and Soil Health 13

Soil 13

Animal 14

HUMAN/ANIMAL/PLANT PHYSIOLOGIC POISONING NEAR DEPOT: Part 2 14

Test Location: An anonymous Property in Londonderry 14

General Results from Conversation 15

Physiologic Poisoning (1995) – Human and Animal 15

Physiological (1996) – Human 15

1996 Bore Water Tests 16

GENERAL SYNTHESIS OF AVAILABLE INFORMATION 16

Health Implications of Heavy Metals Poisoning 16

TABLE 1 Recommended Intake Minima and Maxima and

Estimated Bioavailability of the Elements 17

Chemical Toxicity: General Impact on Human Health 17

Xenobiotics 17

Exposure to Chemicals in Daily Life 18

Which Chemicals? 18

The Effects of Toxic Chemical Exposure 18

Toxic Chemicals at Castlereagh and Exposure Symptoms 19

TABLE 2 Hazardous Chemicals and Exposure Symptoms 21

Chemical Toxicity: Xenobiotic Poisoning of Londonderry Landholders 22

GENERAL SYNTHESIS OF LABORATORY RESULTS 23

Laboratory and Post‐Field Results Summary for All Tests (1995/96) 23

TABLE 3 Detailed Results – 1995 & 1996 Tests Combined 24

TABLE 4.1 Specific Results 25

TABLE 4.2 Concentrations of Heavy Metals (ug g‐1 dry matter) in

The Lithosphere, Soils & Plants 26

TABLE 4.3 Metals in Soils Derived from Normal and Geochemically

Anomalous Parent Material in Britain 26

TABLE 4.4 Mean Heavy Metal Contents of Major Rock Types (ug/g) 26

Comparisons & Calculated Results 26

TOTAL ENVIRONMENT CENTRE INC. REPORT ON WOODWARD‐CLYDE 1994

STAGE 2 AUDIT 29

POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF TIP CLOSURE ON ENVIRONMENT 30

Toxic Wastes at Local Tips? 30

Waste Dump ‘Remediation’, Resident Compensation and Disposal

Alternatives 30

LOCAL SOLUTIONS? 31

Impacts Conclusion 31

BROADER CONSIDERATIONS: FUTURES FOR AGRICULTURE AND RURAL

DEVELOPMENT 32

3. Performance Rating 33

A. WASTE BURIAL AND CHEMICAL CONFINEMENT RATING 33

Rating for Waste Burial and Chemical Confinement 33

B. AUTHORITY/GOVERNMENT CONCERN RATING 33

Rating for Authority/Government Concern 34

4. The Wider View – Chemical ‘Safety’ Worldwide 35

STORAGE AND SAFETY OF CHEMICALS IN SYDNEY 35

WORLDWIDE TREND OF CHEMICAL IMPACTS 35

Historical Toxicity 36

Global and Political Toxicity 37

The Pesticide Dilemma 37

A Monumental Health and Scientific Dilemma 38

Requiem 39

5. Conclusion 40

PRELIMINARY NOTE 40

DISCUSSION 40

Human Trauma, Politics, Media and Community Empowerment 40

Authorities’ Claims Refuted by Student Determinations 40

The Final Word 41

6. Recommendations 43

7. Reflection on Study 44

EXPECTED OUTCOMES 44

CONCLUSIONS REACHED 44

POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENTS 44

REVIEW ARRANGEMENTS 44

REFERENCES 46

APPENDICES

Appendix 1 Maps/Photos/Diagrams of Depot Site

Appendix 2

Appendix 2a

1. Depot Environs Map

2. Locations of Reports of Groundwater Pollution

Appendix 2b

Anonymous Property Soil/Water Test Map

Anonymous Property Photos

Appendix 3 Interviews in 1995 Relating to the Castlereagh

Depot

Appendix 4 Community Monitoring Committee (CMC)

Meeting, Including Human Health Study Report

Appendix 5 RAGE Newsletters and Media Releases

Appendix 6 Lists of Chemical Wastes

Appendix 7

1. Copy of Heavy Metals Results Printout

2. Chronology and Method for Heavy Metals Determinations of

Soils Sourced from the Anonymous Property

Appendix 8

1. Soil Test Results for 1996

2. Chronology and Method for Soil/Water Collection and Tests

Appendix 9 Graphs for 1995/96 Soil & Water Tests

Appendix 10

A. Transcript of Field Trip and Interview with Mr Alan Jones,

Supervisor of the Castlereagh Depot

B. Photos of Castlereagh Depot

Appendix 11 Performance Rating Scale & Definitions (Key)

Appendix 12 Closure Plan for the Castlereagh Depot

Appendix 13 Theory

Appendix 14 Ethics

Global Toxicity: Chemicals – A Worldwide

Nightmare (Highlighting the Castlereagh Waste

Management Centre and its Impact on Londonderry,

Sydney)

Executive Summary

The Castlereagh Liquid Waste Disposal Depot (or the Castlereagh Waste Management

Centre, located at Berkshire Park) is described as a secure landfill, “for the disposal of industrial

liquid wastes *although+ eighty‐six percent of the wastes disposed… are either solid or semi‐solid

residues from the *Lidcombe Liquid Waste Plant+” (Waste Management Authority of NSW

1991:8,23). The Metropolitan Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA) opened the Castlereagh

Depot in 1974 to provide “an interim solution for the disposal of liquid, sludge and drummed

industrial wastes until a planned treatment facility is developed by the Authority” (Waste

Management Authority of NSW 1991:8).

Site disposal methods center on the waste cell, this being “an earthen compartment… into which

solid or liquid wastes are discharged and covered” (Waste Service NSW 1995b:69). This form of

waste burial is premised on the assumed low permeability of Londonderry clay, which

assumptions have, since 1990, come under fire from a concerned public. This has resulted in

extensive media coverage, the setting up of a Community Monitoring Committee (to provide

community input), and the eventual announcement of the proposed closure of the waste site.

Alleged negative impacts from leaking depot waste have created a media issue of considerable

political and social proportions. Landholders around the depot site fear that leaking waste is

responsible for polluting their properties and generating animal and human genetic and somatic

disease symptoms.

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has made admissions of groundwater pollution

under the depot, and bore tests have confirmed the presence of contaminants on and off site.

However, Waste Service NSW continues to deny that local environmental problems relate to the

depot. This is somewhat surprising when modern research on diffusive pollutant transport

(Rowe 1994) shows clearly that clay liners not only leak, but will do so against an incoming flow

of water into the cell depository.

This study has examined the pollution issue firsthand by pooling soil and bore water test results

from two successive years’ University of Western Sydney Hawkesbury student investigations of a

property 2 km from the waste dump. The results tend to confirm that the property is

significantly contaminated with substances as diverse as salt, phosphorus and heavy metals.

Health problems (including arsenic heavy metal poisoning) in both occupants of the property,

supports the claims of many residents around the waste site that chemical wastes are posing a

serious threat to the health and equity of landowners, their children, pets and livestock.

Indeed, a study of a major environmental consulting firm’s groundwater monitoring results and

toxicological literature research confirms a decided synchronicity between types of wastes

disposed at the depot, those leaking from the depot (as proved by the groundwater results) and

morbid symptoms in affected residents.

This report recommends that better methods of waste disposal be sought with vigor (eg

incineration), that full accountability for waste leakage and environmental degradation be

made known to the public (and appropriate prosecution take place), and that generous

compensation for property damage and human/animal disease caused through the waste

leakage be forthcoming.

1. Description of the Landuse Program

HISTORY OF WASTE SITE

Location and Setting

The Castlereagh Liquid Waste Disposal Depot, situated 7km south west of Windsor, was

originally 8 ha in size in 1974 (Bender, Wilmott and Zuel, 1990), but has now expanded to 350 ha

plus (Total Environment Centre Inc. 1996:1), with this area including a 100 ha buffer zone

(Bender, Wilmott and Zuel, 1990). It is operated by the Waste Service (Hartcher 1994). The

depot is bounded by the Castlereagh State Forest to the south, the suburb of Berkshire Park to

the east, the John Moroney Correctional Centre to the north, and the suburb of Londonderry to

the west. The physical characteristics of the depot surrounds indicate that the area was once

extensively timbered. It has, in parts, evidence of wetlands.

Waste management literature states that the current depot site was chosen “because of the

extent and qualities of the Londonderry Clay which underlies the site” (McCotter & Associates

1993:6.5).

Chronology

Officially the Castlereagh Waste Depot was opened by the Metropolitan Waste Disposal

Authority (MWDA) in 1974. It has been said that the Department of Main Roads formerly

excavated earth at this site to be used as road base. This may explain the appearance of earth

works on aerial photographs taken before 1974 (see Appendix 1 for copies of these photos).

However, it has also been noted that the earthworks may be the result of unrecorded waste

burial at the depot site before its official sanction (Luland, C. 1995, pers. comm. 26

April).

The Castlereagh Depot originally opened as an interim solution “to meet an urgent need for an

environmentally acceptable disposal facility for Sydney’s industrial liquid and sludge wastes…

only until permanent facilities were established” (Waste Service NSW 1995b:23). In 1988 the

“Aqueous Waste Plant *was+ constructed” in Auburn which “can convert up to 55,000 tonnes of

industrial wastes into liquid suitable for discharge to the sewer”. As a result, “quantities of

waste needing to be directed to Castlereagh have significantly declined” (Waste Service NSW

1994:1,4‐5; 1995b:23).

In the late 1980s, early 1990s, the local community of Londonderry (in particular, landholders

near the depot) began to report an increasing incidence of disease symptoms. Also of concern

was an apparent negative impact upon the agricultural viability and general biodiversity of the

area. The cause is considered, by some, to be chemicals leaching from the toxic waste site.

Reports of birth defects, together with over a hundred alleged cases of animal and human health

problems, prompted Waste Service NSW to commence conducting Environmental Audits (EA)

(Hill, K. 1995, pers. comm., 27 February).

In 1990, as a result of this public concern, the Martyn Report, “recommended the current

environmental audit process *and+ in 1992 the ‘Castlereagh Action Plan’ was established so that

the environmental audit process could be complimented by the other investigations. These

include the human health, animal health, plant and wildlife components” (Williams & Jalaludin

1993:i).

In 1992, an environmental Stage I Audit of the Castlereagh Depot “was undertaken for the New

South Wales EPA [which led to a] Stage II Audit program [the purpose of which] was to obtain an

accurate assessment of the current environmental risk associated with the Depot and to develop

a monitoring program which will provide the necessary information to signify any change in that

risk status” (Woodward‐Clyde 1994:ES‐1). After the release of the Stage II Audit, Waste Service

NSW (1994:1) said that “no contamination was found outside the site *and that+ the potential for

movement of waste chemicals off the depot is considered to be slow”. Also, the same

publication noted that the draft of the Stage II audit found that “the potential for adverse impact

of waste chemicals... *is+ negligible”. Further to the above, Waste Service NSW (1995a:1)

stressed that the Audit “specifically found that there is negligible risk of community exposure to

waste‐derived chemicals. The facility is not leaking”.

Also, in 1994, the then Minister for the Environment, Chris Hartcher, stated that the AGC

Woodward Clyde examination of the waste depot concluded that, “there is no evidence of any

contamination of surface or groundwaters beyond the boundaries of the depot…” (Hartcher

1994).

Later, however, the EPA admitted to chemical leakage offsite by way of groundwater

contamination (EPA official 1995, pers. comm., 26 April) (see Appendix 4).

In June 1993, the Castlereagh Secure Landfill Depot – Interim Environmental Management Plan

(1993) was set out detailing various management principles including: water management,

sedimentation controls, leachate/landfill gas/litter/dust/odor/pest & weed, and accidental spill

controls (see CURRENT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, below).

A human and animal health study was commissioned by the State Government in 1994 (Hartcher

1994). That study resulted in an ‘inconclusive’ assessment. Nevertheless, an “alert status

[was] adopted in relation to [the+ health outcomes…” (Williams & Jalaludin 1994:v).

On April 21, 1995, “the Minister for the Environment, the Hon Pam Allan, MP, announced that

the operation of the Castlereagh Waste Management Centre (WMC) would be phased out [and]

on 18 May, 1995, the EPA issued *a+ Legal Notice… requiring Waste Service to submit a closure

Plan for the Castlereagh Waste Management Centre by 31 May, 1995” (Waste Service NSW

1996:1).

In 1996, the Total Environment Centre Inc. published its Castlereagh Waste Disposal Depot

Report on Community Concerns and Adequacy of Government Investigations. In this report the

Centre refuted the major groundwater modelling assumptions and conclusions made by

Woodward‐Clyde in their Stage 2 audit of 1994.

At the 29 January, 1997 Closure Consultation (tenth) meeting of Negotiated Solutions (depot

closure facilitators), which I attended, the “Expert Review Panel (the “ERP”)… were introduced

by Mark Lane *Closure Manager, Waste Service NSW+…*who+ confirmed that the *ERP+ members

were independent of Waste Service although paid by it [and were nominated and hired] to

provide unbiased technical assistance” (Walker 1997:4) (emphasis mine).

The closure facilitation is an ongoing process at the time of printing this report.

CURRENT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

Waste Service NSW designated the Castlereagh depot as a special landfill site. It is the only one

of its kind in Sydney and at present receives waste in the form of sludge from the Lidcombe

aqueous waste plant (Waste Service NSW, 1994: 1,4). The waste deposited consists of

approximately 29 categories of waste products (Metropolitan Waste Disposal Authority,

1977:Exhibit H). This might include up to 115 various chemical products, with cadmium and

arsenic among them (Waste Service NSW, 1996:Appendix IV) (see Appendix 6 for these lists).

Landfill Management

Construction of Waste Cells

The clay cells are 20 m long and are a minimum of 3 meters above the underlying strata (Waste

Service NSW, 1994:1‐2). In this way, a minimum of 3m of “undisturbed clay… *is+ left beneath

any waste disposal cell [with] an impervious clay bund… constructed around each working area

of the site; *then the+ liquid waste… *is+ absorbed by solid waste *eg household waste (Waste

Service NSW, 1994:1‐2)+” (McCotter & Associates 1993:6.5). This mixture is then

encapsulated within a clay liner, with the final capping of a 3.5 m bund wall of compacted clay

which seals the pit (Waste Service NSW, 1994:1‐2). At current waste disposal rates it takes one

week to fill one cell at a rate of 66 tonnes per day (Jones, A. 1996, pers. comm., 5 September).

The use of this type of landfill technology, in current use throughout the world, is argued to

enable rapid detection of leakage into groundwater through the use of small cells, although any

change in the angle of flow from the cells (i.e. in the event of major flooding, earthquake, etc)

can cause a major leakage problem (Bedient, Rifai, & Newell 1994:71).

Water Management

The depot has, in the past, based its water management of disturbed areas on internal drainage

dynamics. Along with this, sediment traps control discharges from these areas. Overflow from

sediment ponds, on the depot’s northern boundary, enters Main Stream, this being a tributary of

Rickabys Creek. Bushland in Area 11 (northern part of the depot) acts as an additional filtration

buffer for water before it exits via filtration and precipitation (McCotter & Associates 1993:6.1).

More specifically, catch drains delineate sub‐catchments and provide for the separation of

runoff from each. Also, disturbed area runoff is kept separate from that originating in

undisturbed areas as much as possible. All drainage structures (as of June 1993) were said to be

targeted for design in accordance with the CALM Draft Urban Erosion and Sediment Control

Manual – 1992 (McCotter & Associates 1993:6.2).

Leachate Control, Collection and Disposal

Leachate control is based on the 3m undisturbed clay barrier beneath each cell, impervious clay

around each working area, the absorption of liquid into solid waste, and the backfilling of all cells

with a clay plug (McCotter & Associates 1993:6.5).

Together with the above, the monitoring of groundwater is considered important and the ability

to rectify any contamination eventuating would be easily managed. Also, although leachate

production is considered a normal result of site activities, the amount of leachate generated is

considered to reduce over time due to water usage by vegetation. Along with this, there is

predicted to be a likely decline of infiltration via the agency of humus (McCotter & Associates

1993:6.7‐8).

Leachate collection and disposal will occur through via systems that keep leachate separate from

surface waters (to avoid contamination of Main Stream, Rickabys Creek and other

watercourses). This 1993 document describes collection and disposal arrangments in terms of

plans to devised with EPA input (McCotter & Associates 1993:6.8).

Landfill Gas Control

Landfill gas (methane and carbon dioxide) is estimated to generate at “approximately 1500 cubic

metres per hour for each million tonnes of waste” (McCotter & Associates 1993:6.9). This

document details the possible inclusion of a gas collection and control system should gas

emissions become a nuisance, for the efficacy of rehabilitation of plant life, and for potential

commercial uses of the gas. The possible inclusion of this system would occur progressively,

along with overtopping of cells and disturbed areas (McCotter & Associates 1993:6.9).

Premises Associated With Management Practices

The Safety Premise

Waste Service NSW argues that liquid moves through the “clay at the depot at a rate of about 1

metre every 17 years” due to the low permeability of the clay (Waste Service NSW 1994:2).

According to these figures, it would take approximately 46 years for the waste to travel down

from the cell to the groundwater. These statements are thoroughly dismissed by the Total

Environment Centre Inc publication, Castlereagh Waste Disposal Depot – A Report on

Community Concerns and Adequacy of Government Investigations (total Environment Centre Inc.

1996:8).

Some of the hundreds of bore sites around the depot are monitored on a regular basis (Jones, A.

1996, pers. comm., 5 September). We feel that the inclusion of these bores somehow provides

a false sense of security for Waste Service, at least in regard to their public relations.

Ultimately, though, any authoritative public announcement of waste leakage (given that honesty

would prevail) would likely not provide any real measure of assurance for those affected, given

the devastating events that have already impacted on so many Londonderry landholders. All it

would do, at the very most, is signal an environmental catastrophe long after the event has

taken place.

Problems with Premise

It has been stated by Waste Services NSW that seepage of contaminants into the groundwater

has not gone beyond the depot boundary (AGC Woodward‐Clyde 1994:ES‐9), yet 26 assumptions

made in this water consultant firm’s report have been questioned (Perry 1996:15).

The “inappropriate permeability measurements taken” (Perry 1996:15) seem to auger poorly

for the report’s professional standing and conclusions when it has also been stated that, “…1/3

of the waste leaks out of a cell in 3 years and almost all of it leaks out in 20 years” (RAGE

1995a:1).

This indicates that toxins are present in the depot groundwater, however Waste Services say

that the ‘perched groundwaters’ under the site are “isolated bodies of water‐saturated soil” and

are “therefore not a pathway for the transport of chemicals off‐site” (Waste Service NSW

1994:4). Even if these statements were true (our study has determined that they are not), a

flood may well be sufficient to invade these groundwaters and thus lead to the spread of

contaminants.

Also, landfill technology does not have a good track record internationally as a method of waste

containment. As part of its report to Congress, the US EPA identified 163 cases where

environmental or health impacts could be documented. In 146 of these cases, groundwater

was affected, and 35 cases showed contaminated drinking water as having impacts on human

health and aquatic life. The extent of environmental degradation was related to the degree of

waste infiltration and the flow rate of groundwater (Carra 1990:230).

ENVIRONMENTAL AND HUMAN HEALTH STUDIES

As well as the EPA’s above‐listed efforts (see under Chronology, page 2), the EPA has also

generated “a preliminary air monitoring program *showing+ that the air at Castleareagh WMC

was no different to the air at a site remote to the centre” (Waste Service NSW 1995b:24). (As

an aside, here, this report would like to question the rather cryptic nature of the last quote. A

more specific statement would, we think, be in order.) The same publication also noted that

“a more comprehensive program to determine air quality over a 12‐month period” is under

way. I could point out here that perhaps the “site remote to the centre” should also undergo

this monitoring, since it has the same air – whatever that is; this was not specified – as the

Depot.

Other government bodies have also generated a variety of studies on the Depot. These include

NSW Health and NSW Agriculture. All reports have claimed “no substantiated link between the

WMC and reported phenomena in the surrounding community” (Waste Service NSW 1995b:24).

Human Health

The Western Sector Public Health Unit’s Castlereagh Human Health Study has determined an

inconclusive outcome in regard to a link between human health problems and leakage of waste

(see Appendix 4 for aspects of the Human Health Study (HHS) Report given at a CMC

meeting in 1995). They noted that no clear “pathways of exposure” can be established, so

the real extent and outcome of the health effects of the site cannot be measured (Williams and

Jalaludin 1995: v). In other words, “the study was not able to identify any association between

adverse health outcomes and the Castlereagh Waste Management Centre (CWMC)” (Refshauge

1998).

However, the concern over depot‐related illness and animal deformities continues. In

recognition of this, Andrew Refshauge MP (Deputy Premier, Minister for Health and Minister for

Aboriginal Affairs) has stated the following:

In view of ongoing concerns for the health of residents living near the CWMC, I am

advised that officers from the Department’s Environmental Health Unit have recently

met with the officers from the Environment Protection Authority to facilitate the

establishment of a health monitoring program.

It is proposed that the health monitoring program will be established by the Western

Sector Public Health Unit as soon as funding issues are finalised within the Health

Department. It is also proposed that the Western [Sector] Public Health Unit analyse

and report on routinely collected health data each year for at least the next five years.

These reports will then be disseminated widely to all interested parties.

I wish to assure the community that my Department does take this issue seriously. I

trust that the foregoing information helps to allay the community’s concerns with

the establishment of a health monitoring program (Refshauge 1998).

If the previous Human Health Study found that brain cancer rates in males were more than three

times the NSW average, breast cancer rates 2 ½ times and uterine cancers over five times the

average (Kerr, 1995:1‐3), but still could not define an outcome, then why should the community

be assured? Please see, for more specific details, Community Monitoring Committee and

Human Health Study, and also HUMAN/ANIMAL/PLANT PHYSIOLOGIC POISONING NEAR

DEPOT: Part 1, below.

Animal and Soil Health

Soil. The NSW Department Of Agriculture’s publication, Castlereagh Waste Management

Centre – Animal and Soil Health Reports: Executive Summary (1995:2) listed results from their

soil survey of five respondents in Bligh Park, South Windsor and Londonderry who were having

problems growing plants. The conclusion reached stated that four of the five respondents had

unbalanced soil fertility. The “use of mushroom compost and poultry manure *was+

encouraged” (NSW Department Of Agriculture 1995:2).

Animal. The NSW Department Of Agriculture’s publication, Castlereagh Waste Management

Centre – Animal and Soil Health Reports: Executive Summary (1995:3‐5) minimizes any

potentiality of the waste dump contributing significantly to any reports of animal health

problems. See HUMAN/ANIMAL/PLANT PHYSIOLOGIC POISONING NEAR DEPOT: Part 1, below.,

for further details.

2. Impacts of the Landuse Project on the

Environment and Politics

Author: Murray S. Thompson. Specifically, 1996 soil/water sampling: Murray S. Thompson and Stephen

Paul Dawe; 1996 soil moisture, organic matter tests, results and analyses: Murray S. Thompson; Heavy

metals’ determinations: Sue Cusbert (Technical Officer, UWS‐H), and Sharon Birmingham (Senior Technical

Officer, UWS‐H), with the participation of Murray S. Thompson, Stephen Dawe and Shahrooz Nouri; Heavy

metals’ analyses: Murray S. Thompson.

Introduction

The media has been unquestionably central to the ongoing furor generated over alleged

contamination of properties near the Castlereagh Liquid Waste Disposal Depot at Londonderry /

Berkshire Park. Both sides of the heated issue ‐‐ the State Government (along with the EPA and

Waste Service NSW) and local landholders (along with RAGE *Residents’ Action Group for the

Environment+) ‐‐ have used the media to alert the public to perceived mis‐truths and

contradictions. However, the overriding focus and theme of all statements and exchanges has

been the negative impact of chemical contaminants on property viability and human and

animal health. If we are to believe what the Londonderry landholders are saying, then indeed

there has been a significant degradational influence upon the terrestrial environment of the

extended Londonderry region.

Impacts Discussion

DIRECT, NEGATIVE IMPACT ON LOCAL LANDUSE

Considering that there has been “one million tonnes of liquid waste... dumped at Castlereagh

over the past 20 years” (Kerr, 1995:3), it may not be surprising then that locals in the area

surrounding the waste depot have been the first to announce the nature of the perceived threat

from the dumpsite:

[An anonymous property that is] about 4 km from the Castlereagh Liquid Waste Disposal

Depot, has joined the voices calling for a public inquiry into the depot.

On two occasions *this property owner’s+ animals became agitated and nervous after

heavy rain and behaved as if the wet ground was burning them...

[The] land is above the water table and [the owner] believes water from the liquid waste

depot may be seeping through the ground up to the surface of her property (Bender

1990:3).

The same article showed that the State member for Londonderry, Paul Gibson, was one of many

claiming that the *above+ farm’s problems were connected to other occurrences in the area, with

the common link proposed as being the liquid waste depot (see Appendix 3 for interviews with

the anonymous Londonderry landholder).

In large block letters on page 1 of the April 10, 1990 Penrith Press was the following headline:

“WHAT’S KILLING LONDONDERRY?” The article highlighted a number of things:

• Animals are dying; vegetables are dying; dams and creeks are covered with film; water

courses are spewing froth; eels, fish and mussles have died; people are experiencing skin

problems; horses are behaving strangely; frogs have disappeared, and animals are

reportedly born deformed or dead.

• The people of Londonderry, a rural and farming community, are frightened and many

of the farmers face financial ruin.

• Mutated animals continue to be born, eg goats with no skin.

• Water appears to be the common link in all these problems, particularly after rain.

Animals die after drinking and stock refuse to drink.

• All the properties affected are located between the waste disposal depot and the

Nepean River (Prisk 1990a:1‐2).

UNSAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR RESIDENTS, AND AUTHORITY ‘CONCERN’

Another point can be made regarding the Carrington Road property of Frank Demanuele.

Demanuele says the water lilies are now dead in his dam, and both the eels and fish are dying

(Bender et al, 1990). The article continues:

Over the past two years both the State Pollution Control Commission and the Waste

Management Authority (which operates the nearby liquid waste depot) have tested Mr

Demanuele’s property. The WMA has a padlocked bore hole on his property which is

used for tests every two months.

So far he has not received a written report on any of those tests: “I keep getting told

‘Frank there’s nothing wrong’, but why did my lawns die and become bare dirt? Why

did 80 native trees just die? No‐one wants to take responsibility” (Bender et al, 1990).

If there’s no “cover‐up”, as the Waste Service NSW (1995a:2) newsletter assures, then why no

written reports for the owner of the property? Are test results being kept under wraps?

Note this further indictment against the “no leakage” statement of Waste Service NSW

(1995a:1). Ted Books, a Hawkesbury Council alderman, was moving earth at Londonderry in

1978 on a property next to the Depot. After turning over 2m of soil he noticed a “gas” being

emitted. Not long after this Mr Books couldn’t breathe and felt very ill. He had a bitter

chemical taste in his mouth for weeks after the incident. Although having reported the matter

to the SPCC, Mr Books was not contacted again after an initial questioning session by one of its

officers (Bender et al, 1990). Also, note this comment from the “WMA’s technical manager

Ross Thomas [who] said problems on [the anonymous Londonderry landholder’s+ land was not

the authority’s responsibility” (Bender

1990:3).

SAFEGUARDS?

According to the WMA, the Depot site is “surrounded by a wall of highly compacted clay to stop

the movement of liquid under the ground. A series of 5m deep cells are dug, leaving 3m of

impermeable clay below each cell to discourage the downward movement of any liquids.

Liquid waste and the cells are covered with 3m of clay” (Bender et al, 1990).

The 1995 Waste Service NSW Newsletter assures us that “in addition to the preexisting and new

groundwater monitoring bores..., there are approximately 120 shallow bores testing individual

waste cells and 180 bores into the Londonderry clay. The site is completely surrounded by

these Londonderry clay bores” (Waste Service NSW, 1995a:5).

If Frank Demanuele is not told what is in the WMA padlocked bore on his property, then why

should we believe anything we’re told in regard to the 300 or so bores surrounding the Depot

site?

ISSUE IMPACT ON POLITICS – GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

Calls for Inquiry and Contradictory Test Results

The Penrith City star of 27 March, 1990, noted that the State Government had ordered a public

inquiry into the depot, “following water sampling in surrounding properties” (Kelly 1990).

The same article listed the following alarming details:

Environment minister Tim Moore has agreed to inspect the area... after the matter was

raised in State Parliament last week... The move follows a string of alarming incidents

in which animals have died and 20 market gardens in Londonderry destroyed.

Results of sampling commissioned by Mr Gibson indicated that 1.1 mg of petroleum

hydrocarbon were present in each litre of water taken from two dams in the local area

(Kelly 1990).

In all the above, we observe politicians supposedly/hopefully expressing earnest desires to see

proper action taken, although one becomes skeptical that action will be unbiased and actually

result in real and equitable benefits for those who may have been wronged. One also must

begin to wonder why the Prisk (1990:1‐2) article noted that the State Pollution Control

Commission (SPCC) “do not know which chemicals to test for on properties and some individual

tests can cost up to $400 each”, and that the “SPCC regional manager (southern Sydney), Tony

Hewitt, said the authority didn’t have the expertise for the examination of dead animals which

he believes may be the key to the problem”. It is also somewhat unfathomable how the SPCC

and WMA (Waste Management Authority) should arrive at a “nothing wrong” analysis and

conclusion in regard to local water (Bender 1990:3) when Gibson’s tests did not (see Appendix 7

for heavy metals test results on the Anonymous Londonderry property, Appendix 2a and b for

the property maps and photos, and Appendix 5 for RAGE newsletters on the waste depot).

Handicapped Inquiry

An unbiased exposure of truth and a determined will to compensate any adversely affected does

not, however, seem to be on the agenda of any who might be able to hide culpability beneath

pleas of chemical testing ignorance and expense, or the specific lack of solid and demanding

absolute proof.

As matters turned out, the Penrith Press of 24th July, 1990 said:

The troubled inquiry into problems around the Castlereagh Liquid Waste Disposal Depot

was dealt a blow from within last week by State Member for Londonderry Paul Gibson.

A member of the community committee of inquiry established by State Environment

Minister Tim Moore, Mr Gibson previously had been reluctant to comment on its

workings but last week he labelled the inquiry “a farce”...

As revealed in the Penrith Press last month, the committee is being funded by the very

body which operates the liquid waste depot under investigation ‐ the Waste

Management Authority ‐ which Ms Allan *Opposition environment spokesman Pam

Allan] felt compromised the inquiry (Zuel 1990).

The same article quoted Mr Gibson as saying: “Its like the WMA investigating the WMA... the

Government will be condemned for not really trying to find a cause for what is happening in the

surrounds of Londonderry” (Zuel 1990). Although the then Premier Nick Greiner asserted the

Government was determined to ascertain if there was a genuine health risk, it seems that the

Government‘s will and credibility is lacking in this type of investigation.

Community Monitoring Committee and Human Health Study

As a result of the burgeoning nature and influence of this issue, further impacts have been noted

within the political arena resulting in certain action being taken:

In late 1991 a plan was developed to utilise an independent community mediator to

consult widely with residents near Castlereagh, identify issues of concern and bring

together in an open forum those with an interest in the Depot.

Following the consultant’s work, the Community Monitoring Committee or CMC was

established by the Minister’s office in November 1992 after release of the first

environmental audit of the Depot.

Penrith Council was appointed to convene and chair these meetings. The committee

meets in Penrith Council Chambers about once a month and is funded by Waste Service

NSW...

The main function of this committee is to manage the Action Plan presented by the

Minister in 1992. TheAction Plan comprised:

• The Stage II Audit;

• A human health study and a

• Flora and fauna health study (Waste Service NSW 1995a:6).

The Human Health Study found that the “rate of brain cancer in males *is+ more than three times

the NSW average”, with “the breast cancer rate between 1979 and 1983... two‐and‐a‐half times

the State average, with eight cases identified, while three cases of uterine cancer between 1984

and 1988... *were+ more than five times the average” (Kerr, 1995:1‐3). Amazingly, the Waste

Service NSW (1995a:1) stated that the major findings of the Human Health Study included no

increase in the cancer rate. Not surprisingly, though, the outcome of the study was an ‘open

finding’, with “no direct link between health problems and the tip” (Kerr 1995:1‐3).

In contradiction of most of the authoritative political statements, a RAGE member at the

26/04/’95 CMC meeting said that it appeared that if the Health Study quoted two cases of cleft

lip/palate, then it missed five other cases known to exist in the area (RAGE 1995, pers. comm.,

26 April). The medical representative from Westmead Hospital delivering the health study

findings at the meeting responded that they came up with the study area and that this could not

be changed now (Westmead Hospital spokesman 1995, pers. comm., 26 April). See

HUMAN/ANIMAL/PLANT PHYSIOLOGIC POISONING NEAR DEPOT: Part 1, below.

As if to add further contradiction (and straight out admission confounding previous assertions)

to the entire process involving political reaction and defence, the EPA representative at this

same CMC meeting declared, not ten minutes later, that leakage of cells into groundwater is a

fact ‐‐ confirmed (EPA spokesman 1995, pers. comm., 26 April). However, the EPA

representative then noted benevolently that prosecution of the Waste Service would not

achieve anything in regard to fixing the problem!

Certainly, with regard to the above, it is clear that the Castlereagh project has, through

much public controversy, impacted profoundly throughout political and health circles.

LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT GROUPS

RAGE

In response to the issues of human and animal health surrounding the operation of the

Castlereagh Waste Disposal Depot, a local group named RAGE (Residents Action Group for the

Environment) formed “at a public meeting in December, 1989” (Total Environment Centre

Inc. 1996:1). RAGE (see Appendix 5 RAGE Newsletters) has been instrumental in making

various test results (e.g. bore water tests at the Castlereagh depot) public, along with

establishing detailed lists of disease symptoms relating to depot contamination of neighboring

properties. RAGE members have been dedicated participants of the CMC and

Negotiated Solutions (depot closure) meetings, overseeing, in large part, the activities,

pronouncements and conduct of Waste Service NSW, the EPA, and all concerned with the depot

issue. RAGE was also instrumental in securing the services of the Total Environment Centre Inc.

which has performed an authoritative study on the adequacy (or otherwise) of various

government investigations into:

• Mathematical modelling of water and contaminant movements from the Castlereagh

Waste Disposal Depot;

• The review of the Castlereagh Waste Disposal Depot Soil Report, Animal Health Study

and Human Health Study;

• Potential exposure pathways to humans, other animals and vegetation from chemicals

in the Castlereagh WasteDisposal Depot (Total Environment Centre Inc. 1996:ii,iii).

Greenpeace and Geology

Notably, Greenpeace has also entered the fray and “made its feelings clear on the Castlereagh

Liquid Waste Depot in Londonderry” (Penrith Press, 1990b). This article noted that Greenpeace

asked for the releasing of data on the Depot by the authority (WMA):

Spokesman Donna Russo said “we have requested detailed information covering

monitoring and the types of wastes involved.”

“This type of information is essential for public understanding of the situation at the

Castlereagh depot”, she said (Penrith Press, 1990b).

Greenpeace has revealed some quite startling information in regard to the local geology in the

depot site area:

The new [Greenpeace] report says toxic wastes are capable of leaching through the clay

and into the permeable gravel layer beneath the clay, which contains the groundwater.

This layer, known as Rickabys Creek Gravel, becomes exposed at the surface in areas

downhill from, and close to, the dump.

“If chemicals were leaking from the dump, down into the Rickabys creek Gravel, these

chemicals could migrate through the gravel and flow to the surface in neighbouring

residential areas”, the report says.

“Almost all of the reported local problems have occurred within or close to the areas

where the Rickabys Creek gravel comes to the surface...”

The WMA states that the clay has very low permeability but Greenpeace says many of

the wastes dumped at Castlereagh could cause large increases in the permeability of

clay... (Earl 1990:1,4).

The article goes on to say that the dump is “up to 30m higher than the residential and

agricultural areas to the west and east [and that] the soil 10-20m underneath the dump emerges

at the surface, downhill from the dump...” (Earl 1990). The author also notes that the

Greenpeace report relates the surfacing of the gravel layer to all but 2 of the 29 trouble spots

where agricultural, stock and human health complaints have arisen.

It is worth noting that one can overlay or compare geological maps (Clark & Jones 1991) and a

topographic map (Central Mapping Authority of New South Wales 1983) and see that the

Rickabys Creek Gravel associated with the dump site intersects the south‐western corner of Bligh

Park, a large residential complex south of Windsor. Also, the gravel either underlies or closely

borders six significantly affected properties around the waste depot (see Appendix 2a Maps of

Properties Near Depot, Including the Anonymous Property).

INDICATORS OF SEVERE GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION

The RAGE Hawkesbury‐Nepean Newsletter of September 1993 revealed these startling facts:

On 23rd June, 1993, Mr Peter Millington, Director General of the NSW Department of

Water Resources, issued a press release stating that “There is no evidence that any

contaminants have as yet moved into the groundwater system” under the Castlereagh

Toxic Waste Depot.

Mr Millington also points out that the Department of Water Resources has the

responsibility to ensure that surface and groundwater resources are protected.

The press release seems to indicate that the Department of Water Resources has

not read previous groundwater testing data on the Depot. Had this data been

checked they could have found that a sample taken from borehole 107 on 11th

December 1989 was 92,000 times the Clean Waters Act limit for phenols. Other readings

from borehole 107 have been 27,000 times, 24,000 times and 24,500 times the legal

limit. Borehole 131 has been 46,000 times the limit, borehole 105 has been 19,300 times

the limit, borehole 106 has been 13,000 times the limit and borehole 943 has been

8,950 times the limit.

...Auditors AGC Woodward‐Clyde... have also announced that elevated organic carbon

concentrations (>20 mg/L) have been detected in a number of bores including 906 (43

mg/L), 915 (20 mg/L), 918 (296 mg/L), 927 (81 mg/L), 934 (77 mg/L) and 942 (20 mg/L).

Of these bores 906 is outside the depot and 942 is on the depot boundary (RAGE

1993:3) (emphasis mine).

Further to this, a RAGE media release (RAGE 1995b) reported that the EPA has actually legalized

the contamination of the groundwater beneath the depot “by establishing an authorised

discharge point”. If this were not enough, another RAGE media release (RAGE 1995c) noted

that the EPA has declared that “concentrations of volatile halogenated compounds appear to be

higher than measured during the *Woodward‐Clyde Stage II+ Audit”. Interestingly, Waste

Service questioned the credibility of their usual ally, the EPA.

HUMAN/ANIMAL/PLANT PHYSIOLOGIC POISONING NEAR DEPOT: Part 1

Human Health

The Western Sector Public Health Unit’s Castlereagh Human Health Study has determined an

inconclusive outcome in regard to a link between human health problems and leakage of waste

(see Appendix 4 for aspects of the Human Health Study (HHS) Report given at a CMC

meeting in 1995). They noted that no clear “pathways of exposure” can be established, so

the real extent and outcome of the health effects of the site cannot be measured (Williams and

Jalaludin 1995:v).

The above statements are called into question by the Total Environment Centre Inc publication,

Castlereagh Waste Disposal Depot – A Report on Community Concerns and Adequacy of

Government Investigations (1996:8). This study notes deficiencies in the HHS, these being:

• That the researchers did not take into account that 75% of households included in the study

“indicated that they had noticed unusual problems with the soil and water on their properties

including discolouration of the soil and surface water with an oily film, wildlife which were dead

or sick and vegetation that died or did not grow well” (Total Environment Centre Inc.1996:38);

• That researchers were not alerted by reports that “these problems *occurred+ specifically after

rain” (ibid);

• That researchers also were not alerted to the fact “that 43% of respondents indicated outcrops

of Rickabys Creek Gravel on their property. The Rickabys Creek Gravel is associated with the

flow of groundwater” (ibid);

• That the researchers should have considered these findings and understood that “there may

be exposure to contamination resulting from ground or surface water” (ibid);

• That the HHS “should have considered the exposure pathway between humans and

potentially contaminated soil or food on their properties” (ibid);

• That the HHS “did not investigate, or even recommend investigation of the problems

the majority of respondents were experiencing. Field sampling should have been carried out

to check for contamination of soil and water on these properties. If this work had occurred

then a pathway of exposure may have been identified” (ibid) (emphasis theirs).

See also, IMPACT ON POLITICS, THROUGH THE ENVIRONMENT, below for further details.

Animal and Soil Health

Soil

The NSW Department of Agriculture’s publication, Castlereagh Waste Management Centre –

Animal and Soil Health Reports: Executive Summary (1995:2) listed results from their soil survey

of five respondents in Bligh Park, South Windsor and Londonderry who were having problems

growing plants. The conclusion reached stated that four of the five respondents had

unbalanced soil fertility. The “use of mushroom compost and poultry manure *was+

encouraged” (NSW Department Of Agriculture 1995:2).

The Total Environment Centre Inc publication, Castlereagh Waste Disposal Depot – A Report on

Community Concerns and Adequacy of Government Investigations (1996) (see Appendix 2a 2.

Locations of Reports of Groundwater Pollution) noted the following deficiencies in the NSW

Department of Agriculture’s study on plant growth problems:

• The “NSW Agriculture report is undated, [so] it cannot be determined if it was carried out

before or after the compilation of episodes of human, other animal health and vegetation

problems gathered over four years from 1990‐1994 by RAGE (Total Environment Centre

Inc.1996:31‐32);

• Only one out of 21 residents’ reports on vegetation problems “was included in the NSW

Agriculture study.

If the NSW Agriculture Soil study preceded the RAGE list [given below] it would have been

essential to carry out a follow up study when this information became available” (ibid:32);

• The report fails to address the fact of large trees dying in the Londonderry area (ibid);

• The report’s conclusion (“… The soils are naturally very poor… it is very important that an

intensive program of building up the soils be undertaken” *NSW Department Of Agriculture

1995:2+) “is inadequate and does not explain how trees and plants were able to grow in

the first place, under apparently very poor conditions, before they suddenly died” (Total

Environment Centre Inc.1996:32);

• The report failed to address a significant problem relating to market garden operations in the

Bligh Park area.

These ventures used water from South Creek for irrigation, resulting, in some instances, in

vegetation loss of a considerable magnitude (e.g. the destruction of 8,000 capsicum plants; “five

acres of beetroot, water cress, parsley, shallots, onions and radish”, and the death of 10

chestnut trees). The South Creek irrigation water may have carried chemicals onto the

properties which may still be contaminated with residues. “This would warrant further

investigation.” Also, other potential sources of contamination of South Creek other than the

waste depot should have been investigated (ibid).

Animal

The same NSW Department of Agriculture’s publication (1995:3‐5), minimizes any potentiality of

the waste dump contributing significantly to any reports of animal health problems. This

report’s basic findings can be summed up as:

• “There is scant evidence supporting a claim that the rate of any particular animal disease near

the CWDD *Castlereagh Waste Disposal Depot+ is normal or abnormal” (NSW Department Of

Agriculture 1995:3);

• “There is minimal evidence to confirm or deny that the CWDD causes disease in animals” (ibid);

• “Very little *is known about the effects of ground fill hazardous waste disposal on animal

populations+” (ibid:5).

The Total Environment Centre’s publication, (1996:33) then noted the following deficiencies in

the NSW Department of Agriculture’s animal health study:

• “The AHS *Castlereagh Animal Health Study+ states that epidemiological studies require large

numbers of cases to draw inferences from and yet discounts an important source of data

collated by the local community through RAGE. As a result, the community has a lack of

confidence in the outcomes of the AHS because their concerns were not adequately addressed”

(Total Environment Centre Inc.1996:33);

• “A major flaw of the AHS is its failure to carry out a control study in an area with similar

characteristics as the study area but without the potential of contamination from the CWDD.

While the report acknowledges this limitation ( executive Summary, p4), it would have been

possible to carry out a complimentary survey of animal health in neighbouring suburbs using the

same surveying process employed in the AHS. This information… would have assisted the

report to come to useful conclusions” (ibid).

• “The most disturbing aspect of the AHS has been the way in which it has been used by some

authorities as proof that there is no connection between the CWDD and perceived increases in

animal health problems in the area, when the AHS itself states that ‘ There was minimal evidence

to confirm or deny that the CWDD causes disease in animals’. (AHS Executive Summary)” (ibid).

HUMAN/ANIMAL/PLANT PHYSIOLOGIC POISONING NEAR DEPOT: Part 2

Test Location: The Anonymous Property in Londonderry

The test results (see Appendix 7 Heavy Metals Printout & Method, Appendix 8 Soil Test Results

for 1996 & Method, Appendix 9 Graphs for Soil & Water Tests, and TABLE 3 Detailed Results

‐‐ 1995 & 1996 Tests Combined on or near page 27) and various exchanges of

information/opinion required for analyses in the following section will include past results from

interviews and tests gathered on behalf of student group agriculture and environmental

assignments executed in 1995/96 and headed by myself.

The anonymous husband and wife team moved to their current property in 1967. It is located

south west of the Castlereagh Depot. The property had a great many animals on it that were

affected by toxic waste.

General Results From Conversation

Physiologic Poisoning (1995) ‐‐ Human and Animal

The owner of the property from which Steve and Murray drew bore water and soil samples (the

husband has had to work off the property due to notably diminished health after the appearance

of unknown chemicals) has been urine and blood tested (prior to May 1995). The conclusion

from these tests is that she has definitely been chemically exposed. Medical opinion is that she

has around 10 years before developing cancer. She has had biological and neurological tests

which show her immune system to be significantly compromised. She also has arsenic poisoning

(Anonymous Londonderry Landholder 1995, pers. comm., 11 May).

She needs to take antioxidants, vitamins E and C [vitamin C has significant blood detoxifying

capacity (Davis, 1976:32)+, liver tablets, L‐Cysteine and primrose oil (Anonymous Londonderry

Landholder, 1995, pers. comm., 11 May).

The landholders first noticed problems with their animals in late ‘89 after heavy rains. Five

horses became sick (they were found one morning lying down). One later died (Anonymous

1995, pers. comm., 11 May).

On 11 May, 1995, Murray’s (then agriculture) group spent 5 hours on the property testing the

bore water and standing water in the paddocks. All the group members noted that they had

developed sore throats by that evening. Murray and others of his group noted a ‘chemical’

odor in the air on the test day. This was contrary to a notable ‘bushy’ smell that was

automatically expected, especially given the bush setting in which the property sits.

On the above date the landholder noted that it had been 12 months since her horses had

experienced skin complaints and 2 years since their noses had hemorrhaged. It was postulated

that this might indicate a change in the underground flow of contaminant emissions from the

depot, possibly only a temporary reprieve. It was considered possible that the contaminants

responsible for the horses’ problems had moved on. The overall impact of the chemicals is

apparently very mercurial. The underlying geology may be changing progressively, ie. naturally,

or even changing as a result of the chemicals’ presence and activity (Anonymous Londonderry

Landholder. and Thompson, M. 1995, pers. comm., 11 May) [recall that Greenpeace said

chemicals can change the permeability of clay (Earl, 1990:4)].

Physiological (1996) ‐‐ Human

On Sunday 1st September, 1996 myself and another group member (Steve) visited the property

for bore water and soil sampling. Both students noticed a chemical smell in the air.

Steve received noticeable irritation/’burns’ on his hands after contacting wet soil. I felt

somewhat compromised by the odor I was inhaling (nausea).

The landholder said she had developed asthma only in the last few months and that asthma

medication only made the asthma worse (Anonymous Londonderry Landholder 1996, pers.

comm., 1 September) (She is in her early fifties?). I commented to her that this reaction is

typical of chemical accumulation in the lung tissue. I said that the asthmatic

(broncho‐constrictive) response is designed specifically to expel irritating allergens/chemicals

from the lung tissue [this is why some asthmatics die from an acute attack after, especially,

taking only broncho‐dilating medication (Sinclair 1993:41)+ via the transporting vehicle of mucus

production and expulsion. In her case, the asthma medication succeeds only in increasing the

chemical load within her lung tissues. Her asthma would probably disappear after a few

month’s removal from the property, away from the soil, the source of the outgassing chemicals

causing her asthma. She agreed entirely with this diagnosis.

1996 Bore Water Tests

On the above occasion, we conducted further testing of the bore water on the landholder’s

property. The most notable result to come out of that testing was a surprisingly high and

somewhat disturbing reading of 1.2084 ppm of cadmium.

GENERAL SYNTHESIS OF AVAILABLE INFORMATION

At this point, a synthesis of toxicological information is needed in order to determine if certain

chemical exposures produce symptoms akin to those experienced by the Londonderry residents.

This exercise might assist in highlighting potential (introduced) environmental causes for

local health problems. Any contaminants indicated can then be checked to determine if

they are among those deposited at the Castlereagh waste depot.

Recall that it was noted above that Auditors AGC Woodward‐Clyde made public figures on

severe phenolic and elevated organic carbon contamination of groundwater under the

Castlereagh depot *which figures were not known to, or were perhaps conveniently ‘overlooked’

by, the Department of Water Resources]). Together with this, the cadmium indications in

groundwater under the property and the landholder’s arsenic poisoning may begin to paint a

picture of general contaminant potentialities regarding their subsurface transport to properties

adjoining, or near to, the waste depot.

Health Implications of Heavy Metals Poisoning

The Thornton (1991:68) study appears to encapsulate a few contradictions, namely:

1 The household garden soils [in Britain] greatly exceeded the levels of cadmium in

polluted paddy soils associated with the well‐documented ‘itai‐itai’ disease in Japan...

3 From studies of metals in locally grown vegetables and diets, an average uptake for

human beings of 200 ug cadmium per week was calculated, compared with the average

intake in the United Kingdom of 140 ug cadmium per week. Individual intakes rarely

exceeded the World Health Organisation’s provisional tolerable weekly intake of 450

‐ 500 ug cadmium.

4 Health inventories and biochemical tests on 548 residents of Shipham and on 543

control subjects from a nearby uncontaminated village showed only slight

differences attributable to cadmium (Thornton, 1991:68).

I would dispute the ‘safe’ levels given by WHO since the health inventories did find “differences

attributable to cadmium”. Also, “Cd, Hg, and Pb, have not been shown to be essential for

either plants or animals” (Jones & Jarvis, 1981:594) (emphasis mine) and, indeed, heavy metals

are toxic “at quite low concentrations” (Cresser, Killham & Edwards, 1993:152, referencing

Sauerbeck, 1987).

Cadmium in bore water just 5 meters from the surface is a genuine cause for concern, as is

cadmium at 0.5 ppm (500 ppb or 500 ug/L) just below the surface (soil sample F), especially

when it has been stated that “in fresh surface waters and most groundwaters, cadmium levels

are generally less than 1ug/L” (WHO 1989:164).

Test Results. At this point, it should be noted that the EPA tested the bore water on the

Anonymous Londonderry Landholder property in February 1996, and found formaldehyde, as

well as ‘low’ levels of heavy metals in soil tests. The landholder was diagnosed with a severe

calcium deficiency 2 months ago (she has half the normal level of calcium in her body). Her

doctor was absolutely shocked at this finding and is very concerned for her wellbeing. And this

finding is despite the fact that the landholder was put on large doses of supplements two years

ago when she was diagnosed as having arsenic and heavy metal poisoning (Anonymous

Londonderry Landholder 1996, pers. comm., 11 September).

Cadmium Toxicity. The main symptoms to mention here, especially in reference to the

immediately above (and also in relation to the more ‘invisible’ effects occurring on biochemical

levels), are in terms of cadmium’s:

• implication “in bone deformations” (Rowland & Cooper, 1983:170),

• initiation of respiratory difficulties with high level exposure to fumes (Philp, 1995:141),

• long‐term development of obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema through chronic

exposure (ibid)

• sufficient and limited evidence of carcinogenicity in animals and humans respectively (O’Neill &

Dodet, 1985:5)

• impacts on membrane structure (Higham, Sadler & Scawen 1985:1475); “bonding to sulphydryl

groups” and “inhibition of enzymes”

Following, in TABLE 1, are Food and Nutrition Board and WHO guidelines (O’Neill & Dodet

1985:10) for cadmium and lead ‘nutritional requirements’ (minima and maxima).

TABLE 1 Recommended Intake Minima and Maxima and Estimated

Bioavailability of the Elements (Adapted from O’Neill & Dodet, 1985:10)

a Food and Nutrition Board (1980)

b WHO, 1984b

Given that the body has no requirement for Cd, that this heavy metal is implicated in so many

morbid disease conditions, and that WHO substantiate the ‘alien’ nature of Cd by recommending

a nil minimum daily intake (O’Neill & Dodet, 1985:10), it is therefore almost incomprehensible

that WHO can even allow 5 ppb as a maximum level for this contaminant in water for human

consumption!

And if anything higher than 5 ppb Cd in drinking water is considered unacceptable by WHO, then

what can we assume is the degree of toxicity for Cd on the landholder’s property when we

recognize contaminant levels of 1,208.4 ppb (1.2084 ppm) and 500ppb (0.5 ppm) in bore water

and soil , respectively?

Chemical Toxicity: General Impact On Human Health

Xenobiotics

Xenobiotics are foreign chemicals (Vayda 1991:60). This author links toxic chemicals to

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or CFS. Vayda introduces this vital concept:

I cannot understand how anyone can fail to appreciate that adding many thousands of

NEW toxic chemicals to our environment for years on end (at least for the last forty

years) is going to affect the health of human beings. Especially since these chemicals

are used to kill animal cells, to strip protective coating from enzymes, to use up

precious, and often scarce, reserves of essential minerals, enzymes, vitamins and amino

acids (Vayda 1991:60‐61).

Exposure to Chemicals in Daily Life

The use of chemicals today is extremely widespread. From home to car to workplace and back

gain, chemicals can be found incorporated into almost any product used or food article

consumed. Chemicals are part of our environment, both through the modern materials that we

use, and through the less fortuitous release of toxic substances into the air we breathe and the

soil from which we draw our ultimate sustenance. Note the following:

The best environment for the inhalant prone person is a wood‐paneled house with tiled

floors, only a few woolen rugs and cotton curtains. [In contrast to these natural

substances]... Nylon and plastic products tend to give off a hydrocarbon vapour

(formaldehyde) when in a warm environment.

Constant exposure to such a chemical‐laden environment greatly taxes both the

immune system and the enzyme chains of the liver, as they strive unceasingly to break

these chemicals down to less toxic products (Alexander 1990:90‐91).

Which Chemicals?

We normally associate chemical poisoning with obvious illness or even death. However,

chemical poisoning and chemical sensitivity can occur on a subliminal level, and one can ingest,

inhale, or absorb toxins within the context of an assumed safe environment. Note these shocking

details:

Chlorine is the second most common chemical [after formaldehyde] and is found in

drinking water, washing water, swimming pools, bleaches, anaesthetics and many drugs.

It is used in the refining of both cooking oils and sugar. In its free state chlorine is a

deadly poisonous gas. It readily binds with other chemicals to form compounds.

It must be remembered that many of the chemicals found in the home, work

environment and agricultural sprays are also found as chemical colourings, flavourings

and preservatives in food.

Take formaldehyde, for instance. It is the most common chemical in the average

household. It has little odour but is the component of car fumes, smog and natural gas

combustion (home heaters and stoves) that causes burning of the eyes. Formaldehyde

is found in concrete, plaster, home insulation materials, home antiseptics, toothpaste,

disinfectants, waxes, polishes, adhesives, fire proofing compounds applied to

fabrics, foods, insect repellents, nail polish, wall boards and resins. It is a by‐product of

the processes that make natural and synthetic fabrics crease‐resistant, dye‐fast,

shrink‐proof and more elastic... It constitutes a major portion of the pollutants in the air

that now cover the earth (Alexander 1990:91‐92).

The Effects of Toxic Chemical Exposure

Many of the modern diseases now reaching epidemic proportions are attributable to exposure

to xenobiotics. The symptoms have a very wide range, and evidence now confirms that many

illnesses, once considered the domain of pathology and psychiatry are not ultimately caused by

pathogens, hormone imbalances and ‘unknown causes’. They are generated through the

presence and accumulation of chemicals which weaken the body’s defenses and so thus make

possible the entrance of bacteria, viruses and negative environmental influences. Note these

symptoms:

Not only can food and chemical sensitivities cause eczema, asthma, hayfever, migraines

and abdominal pains, but they can also produce subtle changes in the functioning of the

nervous system, the immune system and eventually every tissue and organ within the

body (Brighthope & Fitzgerald 1989:52).

Vayda adds:

Because the mitochondria are essential for providing energy to cells, and therefore to

every system in the body, a reduction in the function of some of their enzymes leads to

an impairment of cellular respiration. Cells, like us, cannot perform efficiently without a

form of ‘breathing’ and when this is damaged they wind down. Groups of tissues

follow and eventually organs or systems join the list (Vayda 1991:61).

Today, quality of life is much reduced through the impact of a multitude of disease conditions

that are not readily categorized:

The nervous system is particularly sensitive to food and chemicals. The effects on the

nervous system include the aggravation of virtually all psychiatric disorders and

psychological symptoms. Symptoms include tension, anxiety, depression, fatigue,

mood swings, irritability, weakness, lethargy, crying spells, phobias, irrational fears,

visual disturbances, headaches and migraines (Brighthope & Fitzgerald 1989:52).

These symptoms are produced through, more often, the subtle impact of chemicals:

Every chemical added to our environment tends to increase the amount of free radicals

generated and decrease the body’s ability to detoxify. We all know some of these

chemicals are bad because they may cause cancer or affect foetuses. What some

people do not realise is that, in far more subtle ways, they may contribute to an

acceleration of the ageing process and the promotion of a variety of degenerative

diseases by slowly impairing our immune system. Viral diseases, candida, and a host of

other illnesses are caused by OPPORTUNISTIC organisms and only occur when our

resistance is compromised. Even low‐grade, chronic exposure to chemicals can

render one more susceptible to allergies, biochemical aberrations and immune disorders

such as arthritis (Vayda 1991:61).

Toxic Chemicals at Castlereagh and Exposure Symptoms

The above certainly indicates that industrial chemicals are widely applied. The inference is that

these are the types of chemical wastes buried at Castlereagh (and it should not be neglected

that these chemicals are also present in our homes; this is a possible ‘scape‐goat’ for many

defending the waste depot). This is supported by Exhibit H in the Metropolitan Waste Disposal

Authority’s Environmental Impact Statement: Proposed Short Term Extension, Castlereagh

Regional Liquid Waste Disposal Depot report of July 1977 (see Appendix 6 Lists of Chemical

Wastes), which lists the following chemical categories in the then Application for a Licence to

Transport Waste for Fee or Reward which was to be allied with another form entitled:

Application for Approval to Use the MWDA’s Regional Liquid Waste Depot for the Deposit of

Liquid Waste:

• Paints (acryl, alkyd or vinyl based, printing inks)

• Resins (phenolic, alkyd or vinyl base)

• Solvents (chlorinated ‐‐ trichloroethylene, non‐chlorinated ‐‐ benzene, alcohols, esters, ketones)

• Oils (waste oils *lubricating, hydraulic, mineral+, oil sludges, vegetable oils)

• Emulsions (rubber latex, butiminous based)

• Organic wastes (animal waste, bacterial sludge, vegetable wastes)

• Other organic chemicals (chlorinated ‐‐ DDT, chlorobenzene; non‐chlorinated ‐‐ xanthates, alkyl

sulfonates)

• Acidic wastes (sulphuric and others, nitric and others, phosphoric, chromic, hydrochloric, other acid

wastes)

• Alkali wastes (caustic soda, lime cement slurries)

• Neutral salts (chrome, iron, ammonium and various metal salts, not acidic or alkaline)

• Plating wastes (cyanide wastes, other plating wastes not included in any other category)

• Other inorganic chemicals (Metropolitan Waste Disposal Authority, 1977).

Please note that the solvents and other organic chemicals categories above list benzene and

chlorobenzene. Benzene “must be handled carefully because it is toxic. Not only is it poisonous

if ingested in the liquid form, but the vapor form is also toxic and can be absorbed either by

breathing or through the skin. Long‐term inhalation can cause liver damage and cancer”

(Bettelheim & March, 1995:344).

Further to the above, also note Appendix 6 ITEM 4 Listing of All Non‐LWP Wastes

Received at the Castlereagh WMC From April 1990 to Date. Now note, in TABLE 2 Hazardous

Chemicals and Exposure Symptoms, the following extensive list of chemical poisoning symptoms

(overpage):

TABLE 2 Hazardous Chemicals and Exposure Symptoms

Chemical Toxicity: ADI Limited Report Shows Leakage Outside Toxic Depot

The ADI Limited Half Yearly (to June 1997) Report on the groundwater monitoring program at

the Castlereagh Waste Depot clearly showed at the time that the depot was overtly leaking toxic

chemical waste. Wells (from which bore water samples can be extracted) along the perimeter of

the depot, along with wells located more than half a kilometer outside the depot indicated a

disturbing array of toxic contaminants.

Which Contaminants and Where?

Several organic compounds have been found in Well 943a, which is located on the south-west

perimeter of the waste depot, on Llandilo Road, and just over the road from Fifth Rd in Berkshire

Park (see Figure 1 in the first ebook listed above). Volume I of the ADI Report specifically notes

that Well 943a “contained several organic compounds similar to those found in onsite wells”

(ADI Limited 1997a:52).

Volatile halogenated compounds (VHCs) (including 1,1–dichloroethane, chloroform, methylene

chloride [dichloromethane] and trichloroethene), total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) (ADI

Limited 1997a:20; 1997b:Appendix B), and the semivolatile organic isophorone (detected before

January 1997 [ADI Limited 1997b:Appendix B]) were found.

Toluene, methyl ethyl ketone, and methyl isobutyl ketone (ADI Limited 1997a:20-21) are listed

among the contaminants found in groundwater at this 943a well site.

The story of chemical leakage continues with Wells 942C, located just inside the north-east

perimeter, and 941 (on the perimeter, south of the John Morony Correctional Centre). 942C

showed “moderate concentrations” of TPHs (0.856 mg/L) and “low concentration*s+ of

formaldehyde” (1.3 mg/L). 941 also demonstrated the presence of TPHs in the groundwater,

including toluene (ADI Limited 1997a:22). It is important to note here that the ADI Report often

notes that contaminants were not detected before this test period. This clearly shows

contaminant movement. However, the obvious source of these toxic wastes “can not be

established with certainty”, according to these 'experts'. Proposed theoretical sources are given

as “a local source or cross contamination of the wells during drilling and installation” (ADI

Limited 1997a:22). That a waste depot hopefully containing and witholding 2 million tonnes of

'stored' waste -- and one located right where the test holes are -- does not feature in ADI's

theory is interesting...

With wastes indicated along two sides of the depot, we should then ask if chemicals are

indicated as leaking beyond the perimeter. Yes they are. The south and the western perimeters

have offsite bores that clearly contain indicators of toxic chemical wastes.

First, Well 317A, located on the southern perimeter shows upward trends in the chlorinated

hydrocarbons 1,1–dichloroethane and -ethene, cis–1,2– dichloroethene and trichloroethene

(ADI Limited 1997a:42).

Next, Wells 904, 905, 906, 969 and OSMB5, located from 200 to 500 meters outside this

perimeter,

have

varying

indications

of

the

following

chemicals:

chloroform,

trichloroflouromethane and vinyl chloride. What are these chemicals doing outside the depot in

the groundwater? Probably the same as the TPHs, toluene and VHCs in the perimeter wells 941

and 943A: migrating!

Well OSMB2, located offsite and across The Northern Road from the depot, indicates 0.083 mg/L

of TPHs in June 1997 (ADI Limited 1997a:Table 12F-1), along with traces of arsenic, cobalt,

phenol, di-n-butylpthalate, and butylbenzylpthalate (ADI Limited 1997a:Table 12F-2).

Upgradients, ‘perched groundwaters’ and chemical diffusion

It was noted in the Report that Wells 905 and OSMB5 are “located upgradient to the WMC…”

(ADI Limited 1997a:27). The wording implies that the chloroform in groundwater in these two

wells could not be sourced from the depot. Further to this, the presence of the chloroform, as

with other chemicals found in wells along the depot perimeter, is considered to represent an

“anomaly” (ADI Limited 1997a:27). An anomaly is what you call a situation when you don’t want

to call it what it really is: chemical leakage from a source containing “one million tonnes of liquid

waste... dumped at Castlereagh over the past 20 years” (Kerr, 1995:3).

Perched groundwaters: this term has developed a mythical quality over the past few years with

regard to Waste Service NSW (WSNSW) and other authorities’ usage of it. It is a term that

magically ‘explains’, without ever providing rational and physical proof, why the groundwaters

beneath the depot are somehow totally isolated from all other groundwaters outside the depot.

According to WSNSW theory, chemicals cannot cross this mysterious barrier and escape into

groundwaters adjacent to the depot.

Modern research into landfill technology, however, contradicts ADI ‘upgradient’ insinuations and

exotic perched groundwater theories. Note:

The objective of controlling the hydraulic conductivity is clearly one of limiting advective

contaminant transport (ie the movement of contaminants with moving water) through

the liner. However, despite more than a decade of research and the existence of good

supporting field data, it is only recently that it has been generally recognized that there

is a second contaminant transport process which will occur even through a very low

hydraulic conductivity clay liner: that process is chemical diffusion. ...diffusion may be

the dominant contaminant transport mechanism in a well‐constructed clay liner.

Furthermore, contaminants can escape from a waste disposal site, by diffusion through

a liner, even if water flow in the liner is into the landfill (Rowe,1994:219) (emphasis

added).

When one adds an EPA admission of chemical leakage offsite by way of groundwater

contamination (EPA Official 1995, Community Monitoring Committee Adress, 26 April [recorded

at the Community Monitoring Committee meeting at the Penrith City Council Chambers – see

Appendix 4 at the above-noted website's Free eBooks/Global Toxicity menu item]) to the above

scientific research, it becomes all too clear that the waste depot was leaking a broad range of

toxic contaminants onto the surrounding agricultural lands.

How Toxic Are These Chemicals?

Various studies have been accessed for this section in order to determine the toxicities of some

Well and property chemicals. Some overlap will occur here with information contained in

TABLE 2 Hazardous Chemicals and Exposure Symptoms on pages 21‐22.

Cadmium, and other heavy metals are toxic “at quite low concentrations” (Cresser,

Killham & Edwards 1993:152). Cadmium is implicated “in bone deformations” (Rowland &

Cooper 1983:170), the longterm development of obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema

(Philp 1995:141), carcenogenicity in animals and humans (O’Neill & Dodet 1985:10), and

nephrotoxicity (WHO 1989:168).

Vinyl chloride (Wells 904, 905, 906, 969 and OSMB5) causes liver, brain, lung and lymphoid

tissue cancer (Siemiatycki 1995:103‐104) and is a skin irritant (Rowland & Cooper 1983:176). It

also induces tumors of the blood in the occupationally exposed and is a suspected mutagen

(Alloway & Ayres 1993:216).

Chloroform (four of the above Wells) is implicated in cancer (Philp 1995:81; Alloway & Ayers

1993:216) and hepato‐ (liver) and nephro‐ (kidneys) toxicity (Philp 1995:152).

Toluene (Wells 941 and 943A), an organic solvent, is a mucous membrane and skin irritant

(Rowland & Cooper 1983:174). More disturbingly, toluene is described as “a neurotoxin which

is absorbed through the lungs…” In this respect, “it can induce mild abnormalities of the CNS…

*and+ death due to its inhalation has occurred as a result of solvent abuse… (Alloway & Ayres

1993:44;216). Methyl ethyl ketone (Well 943A) can cause dermatitis and has an “irritant action

on the eyes and respiratory system” (Rowland & Cooper 1983:175).

Formaldehyde (Well 942C) is a respiratory irritant and a suspected carcinogen (Rowland &

Cooper 1983:173).

Arsenic (Well OSMB2) causes liver and lung cancer (Rowland & Cooper 1983:58), as well

as skin cancer (Sunderman 1985:17).

Phenol (Well OSMB2) is corrosive and poisonous (Aviado 1976:1068) and “can cause vomiting,

eye and respiratory problems…” (Bender 1991). Further, phenol causes changes to enzymes

within the endoplasmic reticulum (in cells), particularly in the liver, but also the kidneys,

lungs and intestines (Alloway & Ayers 1993:210).

Chlorinated hydrocarbons (Well 317A) promote allergic reactions such as dermatitis and are also

narcotizing agents (Rowland & Cooper 1983:176‐7). These very persistent contaminants have a

high potential for human toxicity indicated by “reproductive defects in phytoplankton and, in

mammals and birds, microsomal enzyme induction [a modification imposed on germ cells

(Kellogg 1976:702)+, tumor promotion, estrogenic effects and immunosuppression” (Philp

1995:77).

Trichloroethene (Wells 317A and 943A) is an organic solvent that promotes dermatitis and has

narcotizing effects (Rowland & Cooper 1983:176‐7). It should be noted here that

1,1,1‐trichloroeth ane has produced deaths in acute occupational exposure and heart failure

through solvent abuse (Alloway & Ayres 1993:217). Well 317A shows increasing levels of the

1,1–dichloroethane isomer which “is considered to be 33 times more hazardous than the 1,2

isomer” (Alloway & Ayres 1993:57).

Dichloromethane (Well 943A) converts to carbon monoxide “which forms carboxyhemoglobin

in the red blood cells” (Philp 1995:153), thus reducing oxygenation and impairing respiration.

Oxygen deprivation is a major problem in coronary insufficiency and, where heart attack occurs,

leads to a greater destruction of heart tissue in those who survive and, otherwise, a more

pronounced fatality rate (Davis 1965:58).

It must be pointed out here that residents around the Castlereagh Waste Depot can be exposed

to fumes and liquid leachates 24 hours a day, this being a far more critical situation than

monitored occupational exposure. It is no wonder, then, that teratogenic impacts on livestock

and humans have been noted by the landholders on a disturbingly regular basis.

Chemicals and Symptoms

The above‐listed convergence of chemical analytes found in test wells on the perimeter and

outside the Castlereagh Waste Depot and symptomatology, synchronize with the illnesses

experienced by Londonderry residents living close to the depot, as the next section shows.

Chemical Toxicity: Xenobiotic Poisoning Of Londonderry Landholders

We have noted that chemicals can escape through clay liners and that the EPA has admitted to

such liner failure and subsequent groundwater contamination. We have also seen that genetic

mutations, disease and abnormal animal deaths (in particular) and behavior have been

commonly reported by landholders in the dump area.

Most of the affected landholders in Londonderry are located between the waste dump and the

Nepean River, so it is, therefore, not surprising to find that, “Results taken from the river

[Nepean, which is immediately to the west, and below, the waste dump] showed that the level

of phenol ‐‐ a substance which can cause vomiting, eye and respiratory problems ‐‐ was double

the acceptable amount” (Bender 1991).

In examining the limited range of data permitted to be documented by the Human Health Study,

and adding the results of the ADI Limited (1997) report above, we can clearly determine that

there is an obvious and significant level of overlap between the disease symptoms expressed by

the Londonderry landholders and those produced through exposure to chemicals which are toxic

to humans. The landholder symptoms noted by the Human Health Study are:

The most common symptom was headache, while others included rashes, skin burns,

vomiting, nausea, diarrhoea, fatigue, sore throats, shortness of breath, runny nose, dizziness, eye irritation, itchy skin and stomach pain (Kerr 1995:3) (emphasis mine).

And let us not neglect the “increased incidence of brain, breast and uterine cancers” (Kerr

1995:3) (emphasis mine).

Every landholder symptom noted above is covered by the effects produced through exposure to

chemicals. Our student sampling and tests (in 1996) have determined unusually high levels of

toxic and carcinogenic cadmium ( which does not correlate with organic matter levels in the

property soils, as would be the case if the metal was a natural geological resident), along with (in

1995) extremely high levels of salinity, and unusually high levels of soluble low‐range

phosphorus in the bore water on the landholder’s property. Remember, the property is just 2

kilometers from the waste depot and situated in a “locality of special concern” (Total

Environment Centre Inc 1996:25) where the following human health and environmental

symptoms and geological features have been noted:

Severe irritation of skin on contact with water or wet ground Black oily substance or

black sludge seeping out of ground Red scum on creek or dam water

Extensive crop deaths when irrigated from creek or dam

Rickabys Creek gravel outcrops at surface (Total Environment Centre Inc 1996:25)

On two occasions, in visiting the property for purposes of testing, those students involved have

received injuries (skin burns, nausea and sore throats) from coming into contact with the

property soils/water and through breathing the noticeably chemically‐laden air.

GENERAL SYNTHESIS OF LABORATORY RESULTS

Laboratory And Post‐Field Results Summary For All Tests (1995/96)

Overpage, a summary of soil/water test results on the property for test sessions during 1995 and

1996 is listed in TABLE 3 Detailed Results ‐‐ 1995 & 1996 Tests Combined.

TABLE 3 Detailed Results ‐‐ 1995 & 1996 Tests Combined

In brief, there appears to be a definite relationship between O.M. content and soil moisture.

Site A, with the highest O.M. reading of 3.97% had the highest soil moisture (18.64%). Site B

‐‐ 1.85%:12.33% O.M. and soil moisture respectively; site C, a higher (than site B) 3.27%:13.59%

ratio, and site F ‐‐ a lower 1.91%:10.43% ratio.

The vegetation on site also related to O.M. content. Site A was very grassy, with high (3.97%)

O.M. (although some of this O.M. might be due to horse manure having been deposited in the

grass near the sample area); site B had only short grass and was basically an undisturbed bush

scrub environment with a lower O.M. level; site C had a higher (than site B) O.M. level again, but

this may be solely due to horse feces, as this site was a used horse paddock. Site F was similar

to site B in that it was a grassed area under trees, however this area was on the property and

had been disturbed at some time in the past.

O.M. also related to soil pH. As grass related to higher O.M. levels, the O. M. levels were also

followed by the pH values, ie. the higher the O.M. level, the higher or more basic the pH.

Again, soil EC followed this pattern almost precisely. Where O.M. and pH rose, so did the soil

EC. The reverse of this also applied closely.

None of this data appears to relate, at least superficially, to the issue of waste contamination.

TABLE 4.1 Specific Results for Property Water and Soils Shows cadmium, lead

and copper levels detected in the Anonymous Londonderry Landholder property bore water and

soils (1996)

Comparisons

TABLE 4.1, above, shows a fairly consistent relationship between O.M. levels (%) and heavy

metals levels in regard to copper moreso and lead less so. This may be because, “colloidal

organic matter has a strong affinity for heavy metal cations, and the retention of added metals is

often well correlated with the amount of soil organic matter” (Thornton, 1991:603, referencing

Hodgson, 1963). See below under Lead in TABLES 4.2 – 4.4.

Recall, on page 25, that I noted there is no correlation between OM levels in property soils and

Cd levels. The unusual level of 0.5 ppm Cd in Soil F is all the more starkly contrasted, therefore,

against the levels of Cu and Pb which do show a reasonable correlation.

TABLE 4.2 Concentrations of Heavy Metals (ug g‐1 [ppm] dry matter)

in the Lithosphere, Soils & Plants Shows lithosphere and plant ranges for cadmium, lead

and copper (Adapted from: Jones & Jarvis, 1981:595)

TABLE 4.3 Metals in Soils Derived From Normal and Geochemically

Anomalous Parent Materials in Britain Shows normal and metal‐rich ranges for

cadmium, lead and copper, as well as sources and possible effects (Adapted from Thornton

1991:53)

TABLE 4.4 Mean Heavy Metal Contents of Major Rock Types (ug/g or ppm)

Shows mean heavy metal levels for cadmium, lead and copper in igneous and sedimentary rocks

(Adapted from Alloway 1990:31, who bases this information mainly on Krauskopf [1967] and Rose et

al. [1979])

Ultramafic rocks are also called ‘ultrabasic’, e.g. dunite, peridotite and serpentinite, Mafic rocks

are also called ‘basic igneous rocks’, e.g. basalt. ‘Shales’ also include clays” (Alloway 1990:31).

Comparisons & Calculated Results

The above TABLE 4.2 levels are drawn from Jones and Jarvis (1981:594) wherein these heavy

metals levels are prefaced with the assertion that “heavy metals are present in all

uncontaminated soils as the result of weathering from their parent materials” (emphasis mine).

If these figures are reliable, then the property soil samples do not contain abnormal levels of

heavy metal contaminants.

Cadmium. However, the surprising result may well be the bore water levels of Cd. Looking at

TABLE 4.2, we can see that the uncontaminated level for Cd is 0.2 ug g‐1 (ppm) in the

lithosphere (rocky crust). Also, the typical level for soil is 0.06 ppm.

Our results show the Cd level in the property bore water, at 1.2084 ppm (1,208.4 ppb), to exceed

the normal lithosphere level by 604.2%, and (for the sake of an initial comparison) the ‘normal’

soil level by 2014%. Nevertheless, the range allows for 0.7 ppm (0.8 ppm in Alloway & Ayers

1993:158) and the property soil F falls within this range. However, Alloway & Ayers (1993:158)

detail the GWDisTV (groundwater dissolved content target value [from 1991 Environmental

Quality Standards for Soils and Waters+ from “guide values and quality standards used in The

Netherlands for assessing soil and water contamination by heavy metals” *referenced as:

Netherlands Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment, 1991]) for cadmium in

groundwater as being 1.5 ug/L or ppb. In this case, the property bore cadmium level of 1,208.4

ppb is 805 times or 80,560% over this reference level! The Pb and Cu levels in the bore

water do not mimic these higher levels. They could be considered normal or even below

normal, if lithosphere and soil levels relate effectively to bore water levels. I see the potential

for normal bore water levels to relate strongly to normal lithosphere levels in particular, as bore

water represents the groundwater that serves as an integral moving component of the

lithosphere.

A complication to the above conclusions could be seen in TABLE 4.3, which provides an entirely

different set of heavy metals levels for soils. These soil levels would place the property bore

water level of Cd within the normal range. Thornton (1991:53) allows up to 30 ppm Cd in “soils

derived from... geochemically anomalous parent materials in Britain”, and < 1 ‐ 2 ppm in normal

soils. Also, although Fossett (1980:71) states that, “cadmium is a rare element... averaging only

0.2 ppm”, he notes that its concentration “is much higher in shales, especially those with high

organic content, where it may average 2.0 ppm”. The Londonderry area is “underlaid by

Bringelly shale in excess of 100 metres in thickness” (Metropolitan Waste Disposal Authority,

1977). The shale may be the origin of local cadmium levels, however Alloway (1990:31)

supports a figure of 0.22 ug/g or ppm (thus agreeing with the figures in TABLE 4.2 [Jones &

Jarvis, 1981:594]) even in shales. These correlations appear to highlight an abnormal level of Cd

in the bore water. In other words, the Cd bore water concentration may be far too high, even

for shale‐based soils.

The 1.2084 ppm Cd in the bore water may well be anomalous, and of suspect origin because, in

addition to the above, Cd contamination in England has been reported (Thornton, 1991:64‐66)

mostly in terms of old mine workings (for Cd in soil). There is no mining activity in the

Londonderry area, nor is there any consistent indication of “fumes and dusts containing metals

which are transported in the air and eventually deposited onto soils and vegetation” (Alloway,

1990:34). This is because Cd is not indicated in most of the soils we tested.

So we might need, therefore, to pose the question: where does the Cd originate, if it is not a

natural geochemical/groundwater feature due to its anomalously high concentration? Perhaps

Alloway (1990:34) can again help by defining a potential origin and transport mechanism for the

Cd in the bore water: “... by the creation of waste dumps (and scrap yards) from which metals

may be leached and thus pollute underlying or nearby soils” (emphasis mine).

Cadmium Correlations. At this point in our investigation of Cd, we need to bring in further

research in order to attempt to break the deadlock noted above. We need to define a

substantiated trend in normal Cd concentrations in order to see more clearly what abnormal

(waste‐induced) concentrations are like. For this, we refer to Christensen (1980:41):

The distribution of cadmium in unpolluted soils (i.e. no waste applied) may yield

information on the soil parameters possibly governing the sorption of cadmium from

dilute waste leachates. Such investigations have been conducted in a few cases but

unfortunately they do not exhibit a general pattern with respect to cadmium. The

major findings of these investigations are summarized in the following paragraphs.

Keilen, et al. (1978) investigated the trace metal distribution in several German soils.

Extractable cadmium (0.01 M NH4OH) was positively correlated to carbon content...

The authors pointed out that the correlation between cadmium and organic matter may

not be a casualty: organic matter is concentrated in the top soil due to the plant

productivity and cadmium being a man caused pollutant of relatively recent origin

(aerial deposition, fertilizers) is still found in the top soil as well.

Tjell & Hovmand (1978)... No correlation was found with humus contents.

Gong, et al. (1977) determined the cadmium content in stream sediments (0.05 ‐ 0.4 ug

Cd/g) and found correlation with organic matter and manganese oxides (Christensen,

1980:41‐43) (emphasis mine).

In 3 out of 5 testing instances quoted above, there was found a positive correlation between Cd

and O.M., with a fourth being specifically recorded as a positive correlation between Cd and

carbon content. Only one instance was noted as a negative for humus/Cd correlation. Also,

Cd was seen as being negatively correlated to clay.

These results are important because they appear to indicate that we should not expect to find

aerially or agriculturally deposited Cd associated with clay. We should, however, expect a

positive correlation of Cd with humus. So to the Anonymous Londonderry Landholder

property, and what do we find? We see no consistent correlation between Cd and humus. Of

the 4 soils tested, only soil F has Cd, and this soil has the second lowest O.M. content. If

aerial/agricultural deposition of Cd is the source of soil F and bore water Cd on this property,

then soils A and C, with the highest levels of O.M., should have at least registered some Cd.

They did not. Rather, the high Cd level in the bore water is indicative of an underground origin

for the Cd. The complete lack of a consistent spread of Cd on the surface demands that the

only immediately obvious sources of Cd are the Bringelly Shale or the Rickabys Creek gravel

which could be transporting Cd from the Castlereagh Waste Depot, only about 2 km from the

property. Given that Cd is on the property, how might it have spread if its source is

below‐ground and if springs (Anonymous Londonderry Landholder. 1996, pers. comm., 11

September) are particularly active after rains?

At this point, we can now relate, at least in part, the Cd to past water flow on the property.

Please now refer to Appendices 2a Depot Environs Map and Locations of Reports of

Groundwater Pollution (Total Environment Centre, Inc. 1996:25), and 2b Anonymous Property

Soil/Water Test Map and Anonymous Property Photos. The water table is very close to the

surface, particularly in the western portion and along the southern border of the property. For

example, there is an almost permanent puddle of surface water in paddock 3 (P3) (Anonymous

Londonderry Landholder 1996, pers. comm., 11 September). The soil sample Site A revealed a

>25 cm sub‐surface vault of almost clear water. The long, black arrows show the path of water

after rains wherein subsurface water appears near the bore and traverses the property obliquely

(Anonymous Londonderry Landholder 1996, pers. comm., 11 September), eventually heading

north to north‐east. The dashed blue line shows the possible perimeter of the surface

intersection of the water table. (It should be noted that a lot of runoff comes from Timothy

road and through the paddock immediately to the south [Anonymous Londonderry Landholder

1996, pers. comm., 12 September] of the Anonymous property.

The bubbling spring water which appears near the bore after rain, plus a perennially‐filled

well just west of P3, along with the continually wet ground or standing water in P3, seem to

indicate a near waterlogged condition). The wide red arrow shows a dramatic floodway

produced from September 1989 through to July 1990 when a 1 in 50 or 1 in 100 year flood

occurred (Anonymous Londonderry Landholder 1996, pers. comm., 12 September).

It is proposed that the 0.5 ppm Cd in the composite soil samples F is a remnant of the 1989/90

flood. Now, working backward, we can investigate a possible cause of Cd contamination

through observing the support research gives to Cd migration through soils.

Cadmium Migration. Cadmium can migrate into soils and groundwater beneath waste sites.

Note:

Of the investigations considering only the cadmium content of soil water or ground

water... El‐Bassam & Tietjen (1977) found 20‐40 percent increase in the cadmium

content of soil solutes 1‐2 m below land receiving 4‐15 tons of sludge solids per ha.

The groundwater at 8 m depth was affected as well (23 ug Cd/l compared to 10 ug Cd/l

in the controls).

Hinesly (1974) reported cadmium contents of 40‐80 ug/l in drain water from 1 m deep

lysimeters receiving

50‐100 tons of sludge solids per ha. The controls contained less than 10 ug Cd/l. The

measurements were repeated 13 months later but did not show any significant changes.

Folsom, et al. (1976) determined profiles of water extractable and hot 8 N HNO3

extractractable cadmium beneath a landfill, receiving industrial and municipal solid

waste from 1947‐1960... The groundwater sampled at 20 m depth contained about 50

ug/l of cadmium compared to 20 ug/l in control wells.

Heitfeld & Schottler (1973) referred to a two year investigation of groundwater quality

around 10 landfills in Aachen (BRD, Germany). They stated that in particular, cadmium

was found in elevated concentrations, but unfortunately no quantitative information

was presented (Christensen, 1980:10‐11,13‐14).

At this point it is appropriate to note that cadmium is found in the following manufactured

wastes because, “many metals, especially Cd, Cu, Pb, Sn and Zn, are dispersed into the

environment in leachates from landfills, which pollute soils and groundwaters… the greatest

cause for concern is currently considered to be Cd” (Alloway & Ayers 1993:149) (emphasis

mine):

Sewage sludge

Batteries

Pigments and paints

Polymer stabilizers

Printing and graphics (Alloway & Ayers 1993:147,149)

And, the following waste categories (just a selection from many), including some strangely

non‐specific ones, have been disposed of at the Castlereagh Waste Depot between 30 March

1990 and 27 April 95 (see Appendix

6):

Liquid/Sludge/Drummed/Packaged: Animal Effluent/Residues

Liquid/Sludge/Drummed/Packaged: Bacterial Sludge (Septic) Special Waste – Animal

Liquid/Sludge/Drummed/Packaged: Aq. Based Paints, Resins, Dyes, Adhesives

Sludge/Packaged: Solidified/Polymerised Wastes Packaged: Cadmium &

Compounds Sludge/Drummed/Packaged: Contaminated Soil

Sludge/Drummed/Packaged: Encapsulated Wastes Sludge/Drummed/Packaged:

Chemically Fixed Wastes

Special Waste – Contaminated Soil (Waste Service NSW 1996:Appendix II)

(emphasis mine)

Lead. The 6.0 ppm Pb in soils C and F are not unusual because Thornton (1991:64‐66) has

reported lead contamination in terms of inhalation (air) and ingestion (diet [through foliar

deposition of airborne lead ontolettuce, cabbage, kale and spinach grown in home gardens] and

dust). The Sydney Basin is well‐known for carrying vast amounts of air pollution from industrial

and vehicular emissions area (Hyde, Malfroy and Watt, 1982), so airborne lead is available to this

property. What Soil C offers is minimal opportunity to retain Pb, as it is open ground and

unvegetated. Little is retained and most would be washed away. Soil F, having the same level,

is shielded by trees. Also, the resident grass (which appears to be succulent introduced species)

offers a small overall surface area to facilitate retention of Pb. In stark contrast is Soil A. It

offers a very large surface area through the considerable amounts of grass present. Between

these extremes is Soil B wherein a notable ground cover of very small leaved grasses, weeds and

scrubby plants offers a good surface area for Pb retention.

Another variable to consider here is soil depth in relation to Pb concentration. Soil A was

surface soil. Therefore, the high surface area of the grasses has apparently combined with our

superficial sample to produce the high reading of 13.5 ppm. The 11 ppm in the undisturbed

bush soil sample B can be attributed to accumulation. From Soil C to soil F, however, we have

the variable of sample depth, but with the same concentration of 6 ppm Pb in each. This might

be explained through sub‐surface accumulation in F (which might register as higher

concentrations in the surface soil ‐‐ its a shame we didn’t sample this), and surface remnant in C

‐‐ that which remains after the combined effects of horse movements, wind and rain impact, and

sheet flow.

If the sub‐surface soil in C is not too compacted from the horses, then possibly more extensive

measurements might show the same concentrations in this soil, similar to those of sub‐surface F.

Also, surface concentrations in both C and F might be similar, however that would require C to

not be subject to the above‐mentioned impacts. The only way out of this kind of fascinating

surmising is to do all the tests.

TOTAL ENVIRONMENT CENTRE INC. REPORT ON WOODWARD‐CLYDE 1994 STAGE 2 AUDIT

This report ( Castlereagh Waste Disposal Depot – A Report on Community Concerns and

Adequacy of Government Investigations [1996]) is notably a refutation of the basic assumptions

made in the audit. In particular, Dr Fred Bell (“a specialist in predictive mathematical

modelling of complex environmental processes” *Total Environment Centre Inc. 1996:7+) noted

that:

… the Woodward‐Clyde treatment of water and contaminant movements exemplifies

the modelling and predictions referred to in (c) *‘the errors and uncertainties in such

modelling are often overlooked or obscured in the mathematical details, and false

impressions of reliability and confidence are therefore often conveyed in the model

predictions’+. He considers this work… is based on unsatisfactory information and at

least 26 implicit assumptions.

… all the assumptions are regarded as sources of uncertainty, many are questionable

and several are shown to be significantly in error… Therefore, it follows that most of

the conclusions from the modelling have doubtful credibility (Total Environment Centre

Inc. 1996:7).

Where the Woodward-Clyde report admitted that fluid “can move from the disposal cells into

the groundwater below the Depot within a few years, explaining the observed contamination in

some bores” (Total Environment Centre Inc. 1996:7), the Centre’s report agreed, excepting it

added the suggestion and qualification that fluid would require less than a few years to reach

groundwater (Total Environment Centre Inc. 1996:8).

Where the Woodward-Clyde report stated that “contaminated groundwater is not likely to

migrate more than 150m beyond the area of disposal within 100 years, and the concentration of

contaminants at the migration front would be less than 1% of the original concentrations at

disposal” (Total Environment Centre Inc. 1996:8), the Centre’s report sharply disagreed. Simply

put, the Centre said this conclusion was wrong (Total Environment Centre Inc. 1996:8). See

Appendix 10 A. Transcript of Field Trip and Interview with Mr Alan Jones, Supervisor of the

Castlereagh Depot, B. Photos of Castlereagh Depot and Appendix 11 Performance Rating Scale.

POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF TIP CLOSURE ON ENVIRONMENT

The Tuesday, April 25 1995 Penrith Press announced the forthcoming, but unspecified closure of

the waste dump:

A TIMETABLE for closing the controversial Castlereagh tip is expected by the end of next

month following the State Government’s decision to shut it down “as soon as possible”

(Kerr 1995:1‐3).

Although tip closure (see Appendix 12 for details on the Closure Plan) might appear to be a good

idea, the problem still remains as to how to effectively dispose of the wastes which are

continually being produced.

Toxic Wastes at Local Tips?

Some concern has registered in the media as to the viability of intractable wastes being

distributed around local rubbish tips. It is thought that this could be a possible ‘solution’ to the

inevitable closure of large waste sites due to full capacity being reached. Although this seems

ludicrous in that toxic materials will then be present within many population centers (thus

potentially widening the problem), this documented situation has already occurred:

THE Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is allowing substances to be dumped in

local tips which were not authorised by Penrith Council, Mayor Ross Fowler said.

Council recently took Penrith Waste Services, which runs Mulgoa tip, to court over three

issues:

• That Penrith Waste had allowed an excavation on the tip to become too big;

• That they had allowed a hill at the site to become too high;

• That certain types of waste had been dumped there without council consent (Osborne

1996:19).

Waste Dump ‘Remediation’, Resident Compensation and Disposal Alternatives

A bold introduction to a recent Penrith Press article stated that the State Government should

buy out residents affected by toxic waste from the Castlereagh tip (Osborne 1995a:25). The

same article quoted Penrith Councillor and CMC member Kevin Crameri as saying that “there will

still be a health risk surrounding the tip for 100 years”. This shows that, in some circles within

this region, the toxicity of the tip is considered to be fact.

Crameri, in the above-mentioned article, also said that “investigations need to be carried out on

the site. I believe it should be carefully secured. There is also the issue of where the waste will

go” (Osborne 1995a:25). Penrith Mayor Pat Sheehy noted that “a remediation program must be

carried out now on the site... The groundwater on the site is definitely contaminated” (Osborne

1995a:25).

As to what can be done with the waste, this is entirely a new, albeit connected issue with its own

significant problems. Should the contaminated earth and wastes be exhumed and burnt? Case

in point: A Waterloo incinerator was found to be releasing ash containing “dioxin levels up to 60

times above international guidelines” (Casey, 1990). As the situation unfolded, the acting

director of the SPCC stated that higher temperatures would eliminate the health risk, whereas a

Sydney engineer countered that the incinerator in question “could not burn waste at a

temperature high enough to eliminate dioxins” (Casey, 1990). The point here is that technology

needs to be applicable, available, very efficient and affordable (at least from the government’s

perspective). But will digging up the Castlereagh site (or any toher site for that matter) be

affordable? And, to what extent will that ‘solve’ any of the problems already associated with the

tip?

LOCAL SOLUTIONS?

If burying waste is unreliable, then can it be burnt? Yes, but the situation is not quite that

straightforward.

For example, note the following paragraph in the Daily Telegraph (now the Telegraph Mirror) of

July 1990:

A Sydney waste incinerator which has been releasing excessively high levels of toxic

dioxins in a residential area will continue to operate for an indefinite period.

A Waterloo incinerator, in this case, was found to be releasing ash containing “dioxin

levels up to 60 times above international guidelines”.

As the situation unfolded, the acting director of the SPCC stated that higher

temperatures would eliminate the health risk, whereas a Sydney engineer countered

that the incinerator in question “could not burn waste at a temperature high enough to

eliminate dioxins” (Casey, 1990).

If the SPCC is wrong when it comes to toxic substances and incinerators, then are we assured the

SPCC is right when it claims there is nothing wrong with Londonderry water?

Impacts Conclusion

There seems little doubt that the “one million tonnes of liquid waste... dumped at Castlereagh

over the past 20 years” (Kerr, 1995:3) have found their way (at least in part) into the broader

terrestrial environment. There is also little doubt in my mind that direct links can be made

between this waste and human and animal suffering/death. Perhaps it is not so surprising that

the evidence is clear in this regard, even if government bodies and hired assessors are incapable

of admitting as much while actively discriminating against landholders through a series of

emasculated investigations programmed to go nowhere?

BROADER CONSIDERATIONS: FUTURES FOR AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

The impact of this corrupt and foolhardy form of landuse appears to be massive. This report

seems to actually highlight a Government (and its various bodies) contributing to rural blight and

the general decline in agricultural viability in this country. It may be the sad truth that toxic

chemicals, disposed of by way of a cruel partnership between an aberrant technology’s

intractable and dangerous wastes and a general governmental negative view of ‘working

class’/rural areas, are crippling the sociological, human health and general productive potential

of the Londonderry region in Sydney. And since liquid wastes move slowly (but inexorably)

underground, and were also continuing to be deposited at the depot while this University study

was being conducted, it may be very reasonably concluded that the sustainability of the depot

surrounds have and will be, for a long time into the future, at best be severely compromised. At

worst, healthy agricultural productivity (and more) may be eliminated for decades to come,

given the severe and protracted nature of the general poisoning indicated by residents affected.

The destruction of market gardens in the Londonderry area (Kelly, 1990) and the unsaleability of

this polluted land is a crippling blow to the equitable futures of these landholders. Does this type

of cover-up now lead, as so often occurs, into decades of exhausting wrangling where

compensation (perhaps) eventually arrives, but only through the sheer persistence of those

poisoned, blighted and wronged? Does this all-too-usual process of governmental conspiracy

and denial not use up lives that could have otherwise been gainfully and happily employed in

productive activity, such as the building of inheritances (including, critically importantly,

epigenetic 'inheritances') for children and grandchildren?

If so, then it can be understood that the criminal treatment of people’s rights destroys many

kinds of resources and leads to, not only the perpetuation of destructive practices (such as the

burial of chemicals), but also the loss of equity for generations to come.

Rural development requires the health and full working capacity of rural inhabitants, along with

equitable conditions (climatic perturbations can be planned for, but Government conspiracy and

antagonism is almost impossible to fight), to enable a sustainable input of ordering energy to

benefit rural communities. However, many Londonderry residents complain of compromised

health (not to mention a compromised attitude toward Government bodies) in the form of

chronic bronchial, eye and skin irritations, lethargy and asthma. Further to these are the more

devastating mutations amongst children and teratogenic impact on pets and farm animals.

Now, it takes no great appreciation of medicine to realise that optimism and energy cannot be

sustained indefinitely in the face of epidemic human and animal health problems. Some few

individuals may draw on seemingly inexhaustible reserves of patience and fortitude in order to

overcome adversity, but most may be more disposed toward cutting losses and getting on with

their crippled and potentially catastrophically shortened lives – elsewhere. If people leave their

rural environment because it is sick and because they are sick, then that rural setting is depleted

of human talent and input. It becomes a dead zone. The community will suffer.

Even those who, through sheer expression of will, remain to ‘continue the fight’, will not see

their efforts expended for normal return because their properties and bodies cannot operate to

full capacity. If watercourses are fouled and must be fenced off from stock; if reproduction

results in mutations, illness, erratic behavior and deaths among humans, livestock or wildlife; if

properties cannot produce saleable materials, then the land which is, ultimately, everything of

importance to all, is poisoned and worthless land and good for nothing, except, maybe, a toxic

waste dump... Lives that could have produced imaginative and constructive legacies for others

have instead been wasted on waste. This is the outcome of toxic, synthetic chemical production

and disposal in a reckless world that does not scrutinize its inventions and motivations.

3. Performance Rating

A. WASTE BURIAL AND CHEMICAL CONFINEMENT RATING

In this section, we look at how Waste Service NSW rates in the area of contaminant

containment. Are the indicators in favor of the clay cells at the dump site being successful in

restricting the movement of chemical wastes off‐site? First, some relevant research material.

Wastes are often buried within clay cells in the ground. This is the case with the Castlereagh

tip:

The primary function of a clay liner is to restrict leachate seepage from the landfill by

virtue of its low hydraulic conductivity (Farquhar 1994:37).

Chemical waste should be restrained from moving through clay, however this author says that,

“concern about the suitability of clay liners for municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills has

increased in recent times because of certain liner failures...” (Farquhar 1994:38). Does this

mean that waste, once buried, may leak? This is such an important point I will repeat a quote

already stated from an earlier section:

The objective of controlling the hydraulic conductivity is clearly one of limiting advective

contaminant transport (ie the movement of contaminants with moving water) through

the liner. However, despite more than a decade of research and the existence of good

supporting field data, it is only recently that it has been generally recognized that there

is a second contaminant transport process which will occur even through a very low

hydraulic conductivity clay liner: that process is chemical diffusion. ...diffusion may be

the dominant contaminant transport mechanism in a well‐constructed clay liner.

Furthermore, contaminants can escape from a waste disposal site, by diffusion through

a liner, even if water flow in the liner is into the landfill (Rowe,1994:219) (emphasis

mine).

Rating for Waste Burial and Chemical Confinement

In consideration of the long list of negative health reactions (in animals and humans) in the site

area, the admission by the EPA that groundwater under the site is contaminated, and the above

evidence of liner failure, we must rate the Castlereagh dump for this category: 0/10.

B. AUTHORITY/GOVERNMENT CONCERN RATING

Relevant authority/government concern can be summed up by these quotes:

The WMA’s technical manager Ross Thomas said problems on *the Anonymous

Londonderry Landholder’s+ land was not the authority’s responsibility (Bender 1990:3).

The Waste service has consistently denied the tip has caused any contamination to

Castlereagh and Londonderry properties outside its boundaries (Kerr 1995:3).

The licence issued by the EPA to the Waste Service to operate the Castlereagh Toxic

Waste Depot states that the Waste Service must comply with Section 16 of the Clean

Waters Act. The Clean Waters Act states that it is an offence to pollute any water,

including underground water. Tests as late as the Stage 2 Audit last year [1993]

confirmed that the depot is contaminating the groundwater ‐‐ yet the EPA continues to

take no action against the Waste Service for this continued non‐compliance of the

licence condition (RAGE 1994:4).

Rating for Authority/Government Concern

Due to the EPA’s reluctance to prosecute Waste Service NSW, the consistent indications of

suppressed information on chemical contamination levels, the concomitant overall disregard for

residents’ health and the general inability of government‐hired ‘experts’ to relate symptoms to

contaminant sources, we must rate this section as 0/10.

4. The Wider View – Chemical ‘Safety’

Worldwide

STORAGE AND SAFETY OF CHEMICALS IN SYDNEY

Risks from chemicals abound even when little is being done with them; an obvious example is

the ‘neutral’ storage of often volatile and explosive substances.

A huge chemical fire at Diversey’s chemical factory at Seven Hills, caught the attention of the

State Government in December, 1989 when a toxic cloud “forced the evacuation of hundreds of

homes in Sydney’s west” (Totaro, 1989).

The same article said that a meeting of Cabinet Ministers was held in response to the toxic cloud

to “co-ordinate Government action in the wake of the fire”. Inquiries, the release of a draft State

Environmental Planning Policy on hazardous industries (providing guidelines on the siting and

safety specifications of future chemical plants in NSW), and the appointment of a Westmead

Hospital medical officer specifically to monitor the health issues relating to the fume cloud, were

some of the initiatives proposed by the Cabinet meeting (Totaro, 1989).

Obviously, from the above, when people’s lives and health are directly and overtly placed at risk,

the Government is quick to respond with some considerable noise and a flurry of literary activity,

as well as, perhaps, stiffer penalties and more intense requlations imposed on those who are

deemed to be the culprits.

And there is need for this type of symptomatic reaction for, as the article shows all too clearly,

Sydney has many chemical storage sites located throughout its urban sprawl. And this is the case

with most large cities which have not been planned effectively.

In order to highlight this mish-mash of residential and industrial areas, note that the following

PCB stores are situated in Villawood and Botany; chemical stores are found in Chester Hill, Dee

Why, Balmain, South Granville, Botany, Rhodes, Homebush, St. Marys, Wetherill Park,

Parramatta, Kurnell and Minto; fuel stores are sited in Botany, Ermington, Clyde, Auburn,

Mascot, Penrith and Katoomba; LPG stores are found in Botany, Mortlake, Kurnell and

Blacktown; and agricultural chemical sites are situated in Seven Hills, Pendle Hill, Kurnell, Tempe

and St. Peters (Totaro, 1989).

Many of these areas have medium to heavy population densities, and many storage sites have

been implicated in the past in regard to, especially, fires and their associated explosions and gas

clouds. These incredibly visible events get a great deal of press and at least some form of

reaction from the Government.

WORLDWIDE TREND OF CHEMICAL IMPACTS

In most cases, it is not the storage or burial of chemicals that is the greatest threat to agriculture

and, indeed, all development (although some very notable spillages and burials have occurred

and wreaked monumental destruction within local and expanded areas). It is the use and

application of chemicals that succeeds all other chemical translations in potential for damage. In

this regard, I want to examine chemicals from a particular perspective.

In this age, chemicals have been brought into existence which have never, in all history, existed.

This is due to very ‘advanced’ (or insanely ignorant) modern technologies. These compounds are

not compatible with the structure and functioning of this world ecosystem, or the 'metabolism'

of this particular orb, if you like. In thus viewing the earth’s environment in much the same

manner as one would view the human body (which takes all its sustenance from the earth), it

can be understood that many, if not most, of these artificial compounds are, by their very

nature, exceedingly injurious to all biomass and the substrate upon which earth’s biomass and

all life depends. These chemicals accumulate in the earth’s ‘tissues’, react to form, often, new

and unknown compounds ("metabolites"), and lead to a distortion of geological

composition/function and groundwater characteristics. The surface environment around the

Sydney Castlereagh Waste Management Centre (see other articles) is a perfect example of these

aberrant processes in action.

In polypharmacy, whereby multiple drugs are administered (by a doctor’s prescription, or

through personal selection) to an individual, no-one is able to predict the outcome of the

numerous chemical combinations and reactions that occur within the tissues and organs. The

only solid outcome that is now known is that ‘modern’ diseases are appearing and spreading at a

frightening rate, including immune deficiencies of many varieties. These modern plagues, which

include multiple allergies, are now directly linked to well-established environmental toxins

produced by our great benefactor: technology.

Now we see the natural world limping and retreating before the onslaught of artificial chemicals.

Man, whether he is a city-dweller or a rural inhabitant, is literally ‘swimming’ in a sea of toxic

compounds. They assail him in the meats, fruits and vegetables he consumes, in the air he

breathes and within his own home. Here, pesticide residue gases rise up from the concrete slab

(as occurred in my own New South Wales Department of Housing unit after two pesticide

treatments were forced upon me). Toxic outgassing from synthetic building materials and

interior adornments add to the ‘gas chamber’ effect. Cleaning agents outgas and cling to the skin

and enter the lungs, and detergents pass from clothing through to the bloodstream. All these

products that man has desired have come about through forms of poisonous technology which

we have worshipped as suposed benefits arising from the god of economic growth. This growth

god does not consider the compatibility of its lethal products with the foundation of all life, all

biomass.

So, the status quo we witness today – that is, all ‘economic growth’ – is based on, inescapably it

seems, the chemically and profit-driven obsessions of modern industry. The vastness of the

problems we now face arising out of this obsession can only be appreciated when we realize that

very little of what we now have and use could exist without synthetic chemicals. We are largely

ignorant of older, more self-sufficient lifestyles compatible with untouched nature, and utterly

dependent upon an artificial world of our own misguided creation. We have become ourselves,

and we have made this green earth, drug-addicted. But this is not entirely a modern problem, as

research shows that man has carried this proclivity to pollute the environment with him, down

through the ages.

Historical Toxicity

This problem is now known to have extended back at least as far as the military and

economically‐driven

‘Renaissance’ of Roman and Greek times when smelters marked “the oldest large‐scale

hemispheric pollution [around 2,500 to 1,700 years ago] ever reported, long before the onset of

the Industrial Revolution” (Hong, et al. 1994:1841).

It continued with the ancient practices of alchemy in the Middle Ages, when kings and emperors

were often sent mad by concoctions of eternal life dreamed up by their sorcerers. These elixirs

sometimes contained mercury.

Today, we put mercury in amalgam fillings, and strangely,

relieved individuals tell of the reversal of ‘modern disease’ symptoms once these fillings are

removed.

Global and Political Toxicity

Toxic chemicals are used worldwide and are proscribed by none that have real power. Within

this conundrum offering no tangible solution, we find that we cannot retreat ‘back to nature’

where real and truly sustainable progress would be more dynamically afforded (although in

limited projects some good results appear as an oasis amid desert sands) because, overall, we

have neither the will, sufficient knowledge, nor the power.

The transnationals who control governments and exploit the vast riches of the Third

World (with total disregard for indigenous inhabitants) will not allow a wholesale translation

and permutation sideways, away from their industry‐based world and into a simpler and more

independent and unilateral relationship with this earth. This is because industry, orthodox

medicine, civil government and orthodox religion generate, collectively, a complex cultism of

elitism, and with this delusion of grandeur a persecuting attitude toward non‐conformists or, the

‘heretics’ who strive to invent self‐heal, believe and live apart from the inquisitorial ideologies

set in dogmatic and politically‐correct, ever‐expanding legislation and religious doctrine.

We have created a pervasive, insidious and addictive monster that will not permit a broad

resurgence backwards into truly sweeping reform. We share our homes and communities, our

businesses and our farms, our waterways and oceans with thousands upon thousands of

chemicals. What do we do with these substances when we’re finished with them? What

do they do to us when our backs are turned, when we work, play and sleep? The answer is to

be generally found, not in the wind, but in our livers and in cancer wards where obedient

patients allow physicians to experiment with yet more drugs.

Global toxicity is political toxicity, because industry manipulates government. Therefore, there is

little room to fight and, considering the overwhelming weight of technological tradition arrayed

against reformers, there are few chances available where global improvements can be gleaned.

In order to begin to live without chemicals, one must know one’s ‘enemy’. And, look what we are

all up against.

The Pesticide Dilemma

Pesticides and drugs kill pests and 'bugs', but they also kill the predators of pests and enlist the

development of resistance in succeeding generations of insects, weeds and pathogens. So, we

inevitably arrive at stronger and more resilient pests and stronger and more toxic chemicals to

control these ‘super-bugs’. And humans, animals and the environment are all poisoned in the

process. Now, is this maniacal slide into a stampeding toxic oblivion worth the pain of chemically

induced disease, mutated livestock and sterile market gardens and orchards?

There are now some 35,000 different commercial products to control insects, weeds,

fungi, and other destroyers. The federal government has the responsibility of permitting

on the market only those whose benefits outweigh their risks. Scientists often debate

among themselves the efficacy and reliability of the tests used in making that

determination (Grosvenor, 1980).

The above quote refers to the US, and that in 1980. How many more chemical products must be

available now, worldwide?

The ‘tests’, as mentioned in the above quote, are unreliable for three reasons:

1. The tests are all too often biased in their application (much weight of influence from

manufacturing giants is applied to the largely political process of getting chemicals passed);

2. The tests test highly toxic compounds, most of which are toxic to humans and animals alike

regardless of whether the chemicals are passed or not, and regardless of the specifications and

precautions allotted to them. This is especially so because chronic toxicities and multiple and

compounded chemical interactions are largely disregarded and undiscoverable.

3. The tests cannot keep up with the sheer volume of new chemical compounds introduced to

the market.

Basically, we are looking at a no‐win situation. Maximum residue levels, poison schedules,

and pesticide registration and regulations in reality mean very little, despite all the technical

hype surrounding the manufacture and certification of chemical compounds. These

substances will generate indiscriminate poisoning, however they are used.

A farm worker, interviewed by National Geographic, said: “Imagine how strong the sprays were:

I mixed them in new plastic buckets that began disintegrating in three days” (Boraiko, 1980:144-

183). The same article had 2 frightening warnings against the use of pesticides:

According to Dr Frank H. Duffy of the Harvard Medical School, exposure to even tiny

quantities of certain insect killers similar to those found in the home can alter brain

activity for more than a year, and cause irritability, insomnia, loss of libido, and reduced

powers of recall and concentration.

But synthetic pesticides soon showed a darker side. As early as 1946, DDT no longer

killed all houseflies. Red spider mites became destructive apple pests as unselective

pesticides decimated predatory mites that once held them in check. Some insecticides,

slow to degrade, accumulated to lethal levels in the food chain, killing fish and birds.

Ominously they began concentrating in human fat and mother’s milk (Boraiko,

1980:144-183).

These are the characteristics already noted in past years in the Londonderry area of Sydney:

unexplained sickness, debility and deaths among the residents surrounding the Depot, and

freshwater fauna and birds dying.

And, further to the above:

The pesticide planes keep coming and the cemetery keeps growing, but who will listen?

(Reed, no date:30‐32).

So goes the opening paragraph of the article: ‘The Town Where Death Stalks Children’, by

Christopher Reed. Reed is describing the town of McFarland in Kern County, in California’s San

Joaquin Valley, one of the richest agricultural areas of the world, yet savagely blighted by

chemical pollution. Reed says this pollution is considered by many environmentalists and

agronomists to be one of the worst cases in the world. The author also notes that this

community is the victim “of an extraordinary occurrence of cancer that still remains officially

unexplained...” More recently, the carcinogen DBCP (dibromochloropropane) has been found in

well water in McFarland. DBCP was comprehensively banned around 1978 because of its lethal

potency (Los Angeles Times 1988). Considering the current performance of authorities as

noted in this document, ‘officialdom’ is obviously seldom in the habit of seeing disasters

like this as actually having a cause. Inconvenience.

A Monumental Health and Scientific Dilemma

Worldwide, highly toxic levels of wastes have been established in many areas and are now, as

very adequately shown by growing incidents of illness, mutation and death, going on to who

knows what further destruction, especially in terms of reproductive effects. These chemicals are

so completely alien to the environment, it is impossible to predict the outcome of their

concentration within the food chain. Accumulated knowledge of natural systems is inadequate

to account for the innumerable toxic combinations possible within the web of life, and the utter

stupidity of introducing vast numbers of chemicals to the world is always countered by

industrially financed advertisements of enhanced 'benefits'.

Requiem

What of the many species of plant and animal which are unknown? And what of geologic and

other processes that are only partly known or yet to be discovered? In what altered state will

they be in if and when their existence becomes documented? We may, in fact, never be able to

fully appreciate some lifeforms and natural processes because they will have been extinguished

or irreparably changed by our activities on and below the earth’s surface. This is a monumental

tragedy for research. Many of our scientific endeavors in the future will necessarily involve a

progressive adding to a ‘Book of the Dead’, a morbid listing of our biological resources and

earthly companions obliterated by the onslaught of invasive, chemically-based technologies.

5. Conclusion

PRELIMINARY NOTE

First and foremost, before addressing any specifics in this conclusion, this author must state that

he unequivocally believes, after much research, that the Castlereagh Waste Management

Centre is the cause of a significant proportion of the human, plant and animal diseases,

disease‐related deaths, teratogenic and even mutagenic responses experienced on properties

surrounding the waste depot. More particularly, this statement relates to the rates or

incidences of these diseases and deaths above what is generally determined to be normal, given

reliable and unbiased epidemiological research.

DISCUSSION

Human Trauma, Politics, Media and Community Empowerment

During my Degree study of this issue, the most notable signature of the waste dump operation

was unquestionably the health impacts arising from this singularly distasteful mode of landuse.

The degrees and longevity of trauma imposed on Londonderry (Sydney) residents cannot be

quantified because stresses imposed by the depot leakage of toxic substances have blasted and

feathered out into numerous overtly and covertly, as is usually the case with largely invisible

chemical poisoning incidents. Lives and livelihoods, human potential, health and psychiatric

states have been skewed and destroyed, and marriages placed in jeopardy. The negative

consequences experienced by the participants of this massive chemical ‘experiment’ are too far-

reaching to imagine, involving not just the destruction of environmental health via xenobiotic

poisoning, but also the destruction of faith in government. Here we witness landholders who

have been pressured to doubt their observations and very sanity. Here we see self-perpetuating

corruption and conspiracies that shunt truth aside entirely (especially where a researcher has

been warned away from conducting tests on the Londonderry environment on pain of a family

‘accident’), and where welfare and justice for the ordinary people are placed firmly out of reach.

As such, this ‘bowl of spiders’ had evolved into a conundrum enmeshed in a web of political

denial, contradiction, intrigue and suspiciously handicapped health studies.

Somewhat more visible to the wider audience was, of course, the extremely high level of media

attention previously given to these events and the dynamic public concern that flowed from this.

This concern resulted in community empowerment through the formation of environmental

groups. These hardy groups and members stepped into the political arena to do battle over this

immense terrestrial environment contamination issue.

Authorities’ Claims Refuted by Student Determinations

The various authorities involved, most notably Waste Service NSW, the EPA, Department of

Agriculture, State Government (Environment) and “the internationally recognised environmental

consultant, AGC Woodward Clyde” (Hartcher 1994) had consistently promoted the perception

that chemical burial at the Castlereagh waste depot was professionally executed, and that the

public were therefore not in any danger from exposure from these buried chemicals. The

dangerous substances were said to be safely tucked away under the ground where they could

not hurt because they would, forever and a day, remain isolated and essentially static. In sharp

contradiction to this incredibly near-perfect theoretical image of amazing grace was the patently

obvious fact that the Castlereagh dump was not containing its buried secrets and was leaching

toxic materials onto local properties. Bore analyses proved this point unequivocally.

From three student studies of the issue in the 1990's, and our determinations of unusual levels

of sodium chloride, the toxic heavy metal cadmium and phosphorus in soils, surface waters and

borewater on a property near the waste dump, we concluded that these findings merely

indicated the tip of the toxic iceberg. Our study of residents’ complaints also substantiated this

thought. As well, we noted that sufficient admissions had been made by the EPA and auditor

borewater test results to provide conclusive evidence that the Castlereagh Waste Management

Centre was leaking harmful chemical wastes offsite. Further to this, the leakage was extensive,

invasive, extremely toxic, and could jeopardize the health of the surrounding communities for

decades to come.

We understood full well that much information had been secretively withheld from public

scrutiny in order to avoid embarrassment, prosecution and potential compensation claims from

affected landholders near the waste site. Along with this insidious situation, it had become

patently obvious that epidemiological and agricultural research had not only failed to generate

professionalism in the methods applied, but had been purposely and consciously weighted in

favor of diffuse and inconclusive outcomes.

The Final Word

In this study we examined local and overseas examples of chemical poisoning, and noted

similarities that are certainly more than simple coincidence. The cases examined clearly

synchronize as per a common chemical waste denominator, one active and menacing in its

deadly embrace of people's lives.

The symptoms of modern diseases, unexplained animal behavior, deformities and deaths,

wildlife deaths, and the killing off of trees, pastures and crops, clearly described the escape of

xenobiotics from their tombs and their consequent movement into human populations within

their toxic reach. The symptoms also strangely pictured an ignorant and foolish dependence

upon synthetics within the distorted framework of an all-embracing trust in modern technology.

These horrors are so unsolvable and unpalatable for the many authorities that oversee these

processes-turned-disasters, that the perpetuation of lies and coverups becomes an essential

imperative to the survival of blind community trust. Within this regime of indoctrination and

subterfuge, political damage control is elicited within the sequence of inflamed events to

maintain the typically bureaucratic notion of 'order', so that suspicion and dissent is kept to a

minimum. But this general political/industrial/medical cultism and hypocrisy that defrauds

communities of their rightful access to unbiased investigations, information and compensation,

leads ultimately to intense distrust and 'disorder' (or dissent, or protests/campaigns/revolution).

For what government through history has ever maintained a permanent totalitarian reign over a

populace which it defrauds and scourges?

All these issues are tied together and present as an immense challenge to the collective mind of

humanity, especially when that collective mind begins to more seriously appreciate the

environmental and human health imperatives painfully reaching forward into our rapidly

deteriorating and diminishing futures. We must understand that the quality of those futures is

now dynamically compromised through the insidious impact of chemical waste. Not only this,

but also the wasting of resources in the perennial fight against abusive bureaucracies drains

away the ability of all people to contribute energetically toward positive and enlightened repair,

recovery and advancement.

Here in Australia and elsewhere, the 'legacy' of chemical creation, storage, burial and leakage

reaches back into history and asserts its dominance ahead of our children's children as a

burgeoning human health pandemic threatening to break the viability of the human race.

If we are rendered sick, deformed or dead before our time, then our personal situations and the

potential of those with whom we share close bonds are and have become sadly diminished.

Long-term environmental toxicity cuts back productivity and taints what little of value remains.

Returns shrink as diseases multiply. The poor cannot invest and cannot pay interest. Equity is

emasculated or lost altogether. A damaged and pathologically poisoned landscape cannot

sustain normal life. Toxic chemicals hold all life-forms to ransom.

If technologically generated poisons bring the earth's 'metabolic pathways' to their knees and

thereby severely impair bio-viability and bio-diversity, then there will be no productive,

sustainable and equitable futures for, ultimately, any individual on this planet.

We continue to imagine that the technology of alien compounds is an expression of intelligence

and ‘progress’. Perhaps, just perhaps, our definitions of human curiosity, invention and

advancement are fatally flawed.

The threat to life is unimaginable. The consequences of present habits are too horrible to allow

our lifestyles to remain unaffected and unaltered, swimming, as always, in a lethargic sea of

apathy and ignorance. We are a world population addicted; a teeming mass of chemical-

dependents swarming from pole to pole and blundering, lemming-like, toward an unknown

oblivion, UNLESS we pull back from this lunatic madness and permanently discharge the

economics and politics that bind us to anti-environmental greed and dispassionate technologies

fighting for world dominance.

These are the days, not for pharmaceutical transnationals with pathological visions of profit and

world order, not for the relentlessly tiresome patronage of obsessive technologies; no, these are

the days for bright and simple ideas, old ideas that can remarkably sweep aside dead-end

inevitabilities and focus on holistic, sustainable and equitable attitudes, as well as

knowledgeable pathways to natural and non-invasive uses of world resources.

These are the days for PROFOUND CHANGE.

6. Recommendations

In view of the enormity of this local issue, the pain and suffering expressed by those affected,

and the seeming intractability of this waste disposal problem, we feel we need to make the

following significant recommendations:

• That the waste site be closed and remediated to the fullest extent possible, regardless of the

cost. Before full closure and remediation are due to be implemented, any waste cells

forthcoming should be lined with materials impervious to chemical degradation and diffusion (eg

Teflon linings).

• That waste and water be pumped (and scoured) out in order to lower the watertable under the

waste site and thereby minimize the spread of contaminants (the depot is on high ground). In

other words, pumping should be generated on a level which would create a mechanical gradient

back into the waste site (because of chemical diffusion, this would not be entirely satisfactory,

however). The wastes thus gathered should be thoroughly destroyed by high temperature

incineration (again, cost should not be a limiting factor here). Incineration facilities to deal with

the end‐problem of the depot waste should therefore be given the highest priority at this point

in time (as well as other technologies to limit production of the wastes in the first instance).

• That strict monitoring of all watercourses around the waste site (eg South and Rickabys Creeks,

and the

Hawkesbury River) be conducted, and all results made available to the public.

• That Government and associated departments be made entirely accountable for past and

ongoing contamination of the Londonderry area around the waste site, and that full disclosure of

all test results (past, present and future) be made available to the public.

• That the above also include the exhaustive disclosure of all contaminants deposited at

Castlereagh, both officially and unofficially.

• That government agencies and individuals found to be involved in coverups in regard to this

issue be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. All records relating to the depot and

intersecting studies should consequently be made available to the public.

• That the culture of self‐justification, denial and damage control inherent in political activities

be fully addressed through an extensive Inquiry.

• That further independent human, animal and plant health studies be incorporated into an

overall epidemiological strategy involving wider terms of reference than previously flawed

studies. This strategy would intensively examine all sources of contamination and exposure

pathways honestly and vigorously identified, and determine the causes of the elevated

disease incidence in the Londonderry area. Toxicological studies would also be incorporated.

• That landholders affected should receive singularly generous compensation for pain,

suffering, loss of income/productivity, disease and death contributed to by toxic leachates and

outgassing originating from the disposal of wastes at the Castlereagh site.

• International forums should be generated in order to focus on economic theory, technology,

resource use, trade and how these relate to unsustainable patterns of behavior, activity and

outcomes.

7. Reflection on Study

EXPECTED OUTCOMES FOR ISSUE

1. That contamination episodes will continue to occur on the properties surrounding the depot.

2. That disease incidence in stock, wildlife, flora and humans will continue to manifest in

above‐average levels in these areas.

3. That government bodies will continue to deny any responsibility in depot leakage and

consequent pollution.

4. That these same bodies will likely sponsor more epidemiological, geological, agricultural and

environmental studies that will likewise be emasculated via limited terms of reference, and

purposely biased and flawed methodologies.

5. That no real compensation for affected landholders and children (this is a very long-term view)

will be forthcoming until/unless solid evidence is produced of corruption and collusion in ‘high

places’ in regard to this issue. Some limited compensation might be made available if sufficient

injury and suffering can be made known, however this would never be based upon any official

statement admitting to depot leakage and government liability. Expect, also, that the limited

compensation would be offered together with pronouncements noting nothing in particular and

allied with synthetic, abstract and cold statements of empty sympathy.

CONCLUSIONS REACHED

This issue has left me with an absolute disgust for authority in regard to this issue in

particular, and ‘government’ in general. I never cease to be amazed at how ‘human nature’

can be so antagonistic and uncaring toward human flesh and dignity in order to maintain an

appearance of propriety.

I can see clearly, as a result of being immersed in this issue, that ‘equity for all’ is something of a

desperate dream, forever being nullified and obliterated through the formidable powers of

vested interests. It may not be too unrealistic to state that life is a battle for many, a calamity

for some, and a heartbreaking misery ending in mutations, disease, death and absolute neglect

for the rest. Certainly all four conditions of being have visited far too many of the residents

around the Castlereagh Waste Depot.

POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENTS

These observations relate moreso to my technical and methodological approach in embracing

this issue.

1. Interview more individuals across‐the‐board in relation to this issue.

2. Visit more sites and conduct more extensive testing.

3. Extend epidemiological and toxicological studies begun at my University and conduct a

detailed health survey of the residents around the waste depot.

REVIEW ARRANGEMENTS

My review arrangements are set out as follows. These necessarily involve a very longterm

focus on this extremely interesting and distressing issue.

1. Examine data gathered (eg chemical types, intrusion/diffusion/contamination potential,

teratogenic and toxicological effects related to levels of exposure) on a periodic basis in relation

to future or extended studies and findings. These would include further private, student and

other depot‐related studies (eg EPA, Woodward‐Clyde, etc), scientific journal articles on

toxicological and epidemiological studies, and WHO and other authoritative bodies’ revisions

and/or additions to presently stated information. Also, for the sake of balance and even,

possibly, truth, study alternative information available on toxicology, disease production and

control, etc (eg information generated by naturopaths, Traditional Chinese Medicine [TCM]

and the like).

2. Continue to monitor manifestations of pollution and past analyses of same.

3. A consistent media watch, together with interviews with landholders and government

bodies where

possible. The nature and orientation of these individuals’ and organizations’ reactions are a

pertinent study in themselves in regard to human psychology.

4. In this regard, then, meta‐studies might be in order.

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