EVANSTON Gardens residents living close to a former Country Fire Service training ground were not told about the site being contaminated with a potentially harmful chemical, due to it being “unlikely” to pose an “unacceptable risk to their health”.
The Bunyip last week reported the land at Lot 300, Angle Vale Road – which has been purchased by Peregrine Corporation with the intent to build an OTR service station there – was revealed to
be tainted by per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are manmade chemicals formerly used in firefighting foams and other household and industrial items.
Gawler Council learned of the contamination in 2017, and last month approved chief executive Henry Inat to sell the land to Peregrine for a discount of between “$150,000 and $200,000” to alleviate the company’s cost burden of remediating the PFAS affected soil, according to a previously confidential report.

However, in a statement to The Bunyip yesterday, Gawler mayor Karen Redman said  contamination is restricted to parts of the site only, and are of a low level of concentration which indicates that the site is not harmful to humans”.
“We certainly appreciate the sale of this property, and the publication of the details around the site, may cause some people to be concerned,” she said.
“If this is the case with any nearby resident we would encourage them to discuss the matter with
council staff so we can allay their fears.”
PFAS were banned by the State Government in January 2018, with all material containing the chemical to be disposed of by the beginning of 2020.
Studies into the health effects of PFAS on humans have varied, with Australian Health Department studies yet to show they have an adverse effect on humans, while the United States Environmental Protection Agency arguing “there is evidence” that exposure to PFAS can lead to adverse health problems.
Despite this, Mr Inat said there was “no evidence obtained by the investigations or advice provided to indicate a potential risk to nearby residents” in Evanston Gardens.
“The information provided to council detailing the minimal risk, and the fact that the site was not deemed to be harmful to humans, therefore did not trigger the need to notify residents,” he said.
“The concentrations of PFAS contaminants are well below the adopted health screening levels for commercial land use onsite.
“None of the soil samples tested (20 bore holes drilled across the site) recorded levels of PFAS that could be harmful to humans.
“This is a very important point.”
The council report stated PFAS contamination is potentially “widespread across the site, to a depth of up to four metres, (but) given the shallow depth of the contamination and a clay layer existing at approximately six metres below ground level, it is unlikely that any aquifers have been affected by the PFAS contamination”.