TAMWORTH Regional Council (TRC) has much to answer for as the fallout from elevated uranium levels discovered in three water supplies continues.
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The damning findings of an investigation released on Tuesday revealed Moonbi-Kootingal residents have been exposed to uranium since 2014 and Bendemeer since last year.
It follows a month-long wait for results since TRC informed 1100 Moonbi-Kootingal residents that staff had detected elevated levels of uranium in the groundwater supply. But no one at Bendemeer knew their water was also contaminated – until today.
TRC has conceded that staff had “fallen down” by failing to recognise the results were outside the guidelines and that “they didn’t take appropriate action”.
TRC will no doubt face a barrage of questions from the community over the coming days.
Why did they not act quicker? Why conduct routine tests if the benchmarks for healthy levels of consumption are not known? Why not inform Bendemeer residents at the same time they did Moonbi-Kootingal?
The Leader was told to expect results from the review on September 22. Why did it take a further fortnight for them to be revealed, leaving concerned citizens in the dark?
There will inevitably be a wave of criticism directed at the staff involved, but TRC has rightfully done a mea culpa and apologised to affected residents. They should be applauded for that.
Council has tested the region’s drinking water for uranium every six months since 2014 and it was only in the process of collecting the results for Hunter New England Health that it recognised elevated levels. And then it came clean.
It’s not known exactly how long Moonbi-Kootingal residents have been drinking the contaminated water. But we must remember that, according to health authorities, the health risks associated with uranium consumption via water are minimal. The Kootingal bores have been in place since the early 1960s and one was commissioned in 1883. People have been consuming water from the same supply since before testing. Any long term effects have not yet been quantified.
It is hoped more detail will float to the surface in the days ahead as TRC is held accountable for the “oversight” and questions are asked …. and answered.
