community meeting on environmental health issues in royal george dr chrissie pickin
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Community Meeting on Environmental Health Issues in Royal George Dr Chrissie Pickin Deputy Director Public Health. Why are we here?. To listen to your concerns about your and your family’s health To let you know what we think will happen next - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Community Meeting on Environmental Health Issues in Royal George
Dr Chrissie Pickin
Deputy Director Public Health
Why are we here?
• To listen to your concerns about your and your family’s health
• To let you know what we think will happen next
• Ask you how you want to get involved in the investigation
• Plan what to do and when to come up next
Your concerns from last week?
Why weren’t we told earlier- was it kept a secret?
What exactly is the problem? Will it make us ill? Will we get better if it
has? What will happen now? Any other questions or concerns?
Who is involved?
PEHS: Public & Environmental
Health Services
Management Plan
Royal George Residents
MRT: Mineral Resources Tasmania
EPA: Environmental
Protection Authority
NMC: Northern Midlands Council
The History – this time around
• Mid March – we received an email from NMC expressing concerns• Collected samples early May ( dry)
– River samples OK• Met with EPA and MRT to discuss the matter and the past• 17th June took more samples after heavy rain. Noted residents still
taking river water and only 4 had rainwater tanks • 2nd July got the results
– River samples showed v high levels of arsenic, lead and cadmium – Aluminium and iron also but these not a health hazard
• Advised MRT and NMC of the need to provide clean drinking water before the next heavy rain event
• Tank arrived 22nd July• Letter to residents 23rd July and to local Drs end of July• Continued to meet with EPA and MRT
LONGER HISTORY
• 1880s – area discovered to contain minerals• 1911 – Tin Mine Company founded• 1922 – Mine closed• Lots happened between 1922 and 1995
………….
Mining Resources Tasmania
• 1995 Agreed to set up Rehabilitation of Abandoned Mining Lands Trust Fund ( from mining companies royalties)
• 2005 MRT started investigating remediation options for the Royal George site
• 2005 MRT advised NMC all residential water off-takes to be relocated upstream of tailings
• 2006 Pit & Sherry report• 2007 residents advised not to drink the water from the river• 2008 MRT started a 3 yr program to apply lime and fertiliser prior to
attempting revegetation• MRT will put a remediation proposal to the Trust Fund on 9th
September 2010
So back to health issues
• What are we concerned about- will it make you ill?
• Should you be worried?• What we want you to do now?
What are we concerned about?
• Hazardous heavy metals are in the area – this is not so unusual and is not necessarily a health problem.
Exposure pathways Can this be this a health hazard?
Is this happening at Royal George?
Drinking water supply Yes definitely Intermittently
Dust in air being breathed
Sometimes (e.g. smelters) No
Eating contaminated food- fruit, veg, fish
Possibly ?
Swimming or bathing in water
No Yes (but no risk)
Eating contaminated soil Yes, particularly children ?
So we need to know more about
• How often the river water is contaminated• How contaminated the soil is• Is anything getting into your vegetables or
fish• So we have organised an “environmental
monitoring program”• Whether you have absorbed any metals
already?
Has it or will it do you or your children any harm
• Blood tests today to see if you have absorbed any lead in your body ( from contaminated water, soil, paint, hobbies etc)
• Like it 10 or under for adults & 5 or under for children. • Also test for cadmium. Could be high if you smoke or
ex smoker as tobacco contains cadmium• Results will go to your GP and to us. You can get
your results from your GP in about 2 – 3 weeks time• If these are normal then you haven’t absorbed
enough to cause you any harm
What about arsenic?
• Harder to measure as it leaves your blood and urine very quickly
• Two forms of arsenic- one harmless form is found in fish and seafood. Difficult for the test to distinguish so need to exclude fish and seafood from your diet before the test.
• If your lead &cadmium are normal the arsenic will be too- as they are all mixed up together in the water and soil.
• If you want a test for arsenic then let us know and we can arrange it.
• Hair and toe nails tests not recommended by experts
If blood tests are all normal• Unlikely to come to any harm now or in the
future• Still don’t drink the river water• Don’t eat soil!
– Watch children– Wash hands often and always before you eat– Keep house free from mud and dust ( wet mop
and vacuum often)– Wash your veggies with clean water
• Take care with car batteries, lead paint and sinkers
If your blood tests aren’t normal
• Doesn’t mean you been harmed– Everybody is exposed to heavy metals– Only toxic to humans at relatively high levels over
a relatively long period of time• We will do further tests • We will interview you about how you live and what
you do• We will arrange advice and treatment if necessary• We will link the environmental testing with the blood
results to find a cause
Stuart Heggie- State Environmental Health Manager
Talk about the environmental sampling program
Monitoring program
• Who is involved– Public and Environmental Health Services
(DHHS)– Environment Protection Authority (EPA)– Northern Midlands Council– Mineral Resources Tasmania (MRT)
Monitoring program
• When will monitoring begin– Phase One: Commences now until
Christmas– Phase Two: Continued water monitoring
after MRT improvements to check if improvements have worked
– Phase Two (Optional): • Will depend on outcomes of Phase One• Will focus on specific issues from Phase One
Sample Where How often/how many samples
St Pauls River - water Upstream, at Royal George, downstream
Monthly for four months
St Pauls River - sediments Upstream, at Royal George and downstream
Five samples – one off
Rainwater Three rainwater tanks Total nine samples to be collected after 3 periods of dry spell followed by rain (incl dust in gutters)
Fish St Pauls River upstream, at Royal George and St Pauls River dowstream
Total of eight fish
Veggies/Soil Residents home grown vegetable garden
10-20 samples when grown
Monitoring Program
• What is being tested for
– Arsenic– Aluminium– Cadmium– Chromium– Copper– Iron– Manganese– Nickel– Lead– Zinc
• In all water, soil and food samples
Your involvement
• Have we answered your questions for now?• We will put information as it comes in on our
website www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/peh/current_public_health_issues
• We will come back when we have some results to share with you
• Do you need/want anything else from P&EHS?