 |
| Onsite work |
 |
| Fabricating the ground cover |
 |
|
The 60 hectare
Islington Workshop Site opened in 1882 as the main locomotive depot
for Adelaide and until 1997 a wide variety of activities were carried
out. Workshops which operated on the site included a foundry, electroplating
shop, paint shop, blacksmith shop and numerous fabrication workshops.
Industrial waste, including large quantities of friable asbestos
generated from these operations, was dumped on two large mounds
in the northern part of the site. The contaminated site, which was
directly adjacent to residential housing, was some 12 hectares in
size.
In addition to asbestos the landfill site also
contained significant levels of heavy metals and hydrocarbons and
other materials that exceeded safe levels for residential and industrial
use. These included:
- Asbestos insulation, foundry wastes (sand and slag), electroplating
wastes, waste oils, miscellaneous drummed materials, scrap metal
and
demolition rubble;
- Large quantities of friable asbestos (predominantly blue asbestos)
Class 1 Carcinogen;
- Heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, As);
- Petroleum Hydrocarbons (localised);
- Localised cyanide (drummed) and polyaromatic hydrocarbons.
The once highly contaminated land, which posed
potentially significant longterm
health risks to the local community, is now full remediated. The
site has been landscaped and handed over to the local council for
use as a significant public park.
The solution of this project involved consolidation
of the contaminated fill material on the site into a repository
capped by a metre of clean soil on an area less than half of the
footprint of the originally contaminated dump site. This is a safe,
practical and cost-effective solution for a safe environment for
nearby residents and workers.
|
