FORRESTFIELD–AIRPORT
LINK — SOIL CONTAMINATION
1083. Hon PETER COLLIER to
the minister representing the Minister for Transport:
I ask this question on behalf of Hon
Dr Steve Thomas, who is on urgent parliamentary business.
I refer to the spoil extracted
during tunnelling in the Forrestfield–Airport Link project.
Hon Alannah MacTiernan: I was
missing them. It's so good to have them back!
The PRESIDENT: Order,
members! I am looking forward to this question.
Hon PETER COLLIER: I continue.
(1) What is the
total volume of soil that has been extracted from the Forrestfield–Airport
Link tunnel project?
(2) What is the total volume of spoil that has now
been accumulated at the Kewdale–Forrestfield site that was
previously used?
(3) What other sites have been used
for storage of the spoil and how much is stored at each site?
(4) What volume of the spoil has
been re-used in other projects and how much in each project?
(5) How much of
the stored and re-used spoil is contaminated with perfluoroalkyl and
polyfluoroalkyl substances and at what concentrations?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question. The following answer has been provided to me by
the Minister for Transport.
(1) It is approximately one million
cubic metres.
(2) Approximately
600 000 cubic metres of soil is currently stockpiled at 77 Abernethy Road,
Forrestfield.
(3) The Perth Airport site, where
approximately 110 000 cubic metres is stored.
(4) Approximately
30 000 cubic metres of soil has been transported to the NorthLink WA project
for use as engineered backfill. Approximately 120 000 cubic metres of soil has
been transported to the Kenwick rail freight facility project for use as
engineered backfill. Approximately 160 000 cubic metres of soil is being
re-used within the Forrestfield–Airport Link project works.
(5) PFAS are
ubiquitous and can be found at low levels in soils, surface water and
groundwater in most urban areas in WA and nationally. Although soil from all
project excavation locations has been tested for PFAS and detectable levels
have been found in some samples, the highest soil readings measured are low and
comparable with the low levels present in most urban areas around the world,
including in Australia. The soil is capable of re-use in accordance with the
PFAS National Environmental Management Plan.