Housing and Urban Development Minister Patrick Conlon has welcomed an independent report that has found no evidence of risk to residents from vapours being generated from groundwater contamination beneath the former Brompton Gasworks (Origin) site.

“A great deal of myth and misinformation has been presented regarding this site but at the end of the day the report speaks for itself,” he said.

“This is very much a first step in ultimately remediating a site that has housed industry for the best part of 160 years but represent encouraging results nonetheless.”

“The site will be fully remediated after the adjacent former Clipsal site and a great deal of work will need to be done to get us to a point where we can redevelop the site, but in the immediate term local residents can be reassured.”

A “soil vapour risk assessment” within the nearby residential area was commissioned by the State Government in late 2011 and an extension was granted to ensure additional work could be completed. The report has also been peer reviewed.

It focussed on properties within the Groundwater Exclusion Zone (GEZ) established by the Environment Protection Authority and the Department for Water in February 2001.

The resulting Environmental Auditors’ report, which has been publicly released today, found that there is no evidence that vapours being generated from groundwater contamination represent risks to residential property users within the GEZ.

Coupled with the State Government’s commitment to the Bowden Development, $43.1 million will be invested in clean up and remediation over 10 to 15 years.

You can read the report here.