DEPARTMENT OF WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION —LANDFILL
WASTE CLASSIFICATION AND WASTE DEFINITIONS
630. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the Minister for Environment:
I refer to my questions without notice 568 and 613 asked last
week on the landfill waste classification and waste definitions. In the answer
to part (4) of question without notice 568, the minister stated, and I quote —
Thresholds were adopted that would
not be lower than typical ambient background levels encountered in soils of the
Swan coastal plain.
(1) What are
the definitions or limits of ''typical ambient background levels encountered
in soils of the Swan coastal plain'' of vanadium, copper, uranium,
arsenic, chromium (III), nickel and pH?
(2) Has the
Department of Water and Environmental Regulation been made aware of any testing
of soils from the Swan coastal plain from public or private projects in which
the ''typical ambient background levels'' have been exceeded for
vanadium, copper, uranium, arsenic, chromium (III), nickel and pH?
(3) If yes
to (2), will the minister table a list of those exceedances, including the
levels detected?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the
honourable member for some notice of this question.
(1)
Typical ambient background levels for soils of the Swan coastal plain are
provided in the following two sources listed in tabled paper 1597: Olszowy, H.,
Torr, P. and Imray, P. 1995, Trace Element Concentrations in Soils from Rural
and Urban Areas of Australia, contaminated sites monograph series 4,
Department of Human Services and Health, Environment Protection Agency and
South Australian Health Commission; and, Prakongkep, N., Gilkes, R.J., Singh,
B. and Wong, S. 2011, ''Mineralogy and chemistry of sandy acid sulfate
soils in the Perth metropolitan area of the Swan Coastal Plain'', report
to the Department of Environment and Conservation, June 2011.
(2)
No. Given the variety of soil types across the Swan coastal plain, it is likely
that the concentrations of some metals exceed typical ambient background levels
in some locations. Prior to publication of the ''Landfill Waste
Classification and Waste Definitions 1996 (as amended 2018)'', the
department compared the maximum concentrations for metals in table 6 with
available data from Main Roads Western Australia's Gateway WA project.
All samples in the Gateway dataset comfortably meet the relevant maximum
concentrations in table 6. I now table the Gateway WA project data.
[See paper 1638.]
(3) Not applicable.
I note that the
honourable member has now raised several questions about the Department of
Water and Environmental Regulation's ''Landfill Waste
Classification and Waste Definitions 1996 (as amended 2018)''. Given the
member's interest, I offer him a detailed briefing on this matter.