Stan Gorton of the Narooma News wrote (Dec 19th) an excellent investigative article raising questions of leachate from Brou Tip possbly contaminating Brou Creek. (sadly a link to this very informative article is not allowed by copyright - just search the Narooma News website) Eurobodalla residents have been raising concerns of other possible contamination in Broulee, Batemans Bay and Dalmeny for some time and have voiced their dissatisfaction with both the EPA and the Council in how Council dealt with community transparency and how the followup investigations were carried out. With this latest alleged leachate contamination breach and also a possible breach of Council's policy by allegedly not informing adjacent land owners, as required, following on from a known breach, Eurobodalla Councillors will be advised in the New Year of previous concerns and reminded of the highly toxic nature of leachate. Moruya resident Damien Rogers, in June 2011 advised the ABC in regards to the old Broulee tip. "A lot of the poisons that come out of leachate tips are very toxic, and they can last in the environment for many years so residents have to know that the water is safe. In old tips, everything went in there, from DDT, dioxins, PCBs; everything's possible in that tip". Mr Rogers has advised The Beagle that he feels the concerns raised in the past have been brushed over and that there has been little if any transparency of findings with both the community and with the Councillors of the day. All new Councillors will now be provided with copies of the wide array of documents, news paper articles and notes of meetings relating to the earlier breaches so that an open internal investigation, chaired by a Councillor appointed by the Mayor, can be held. Ex-Councillor Allan Brown offered the following comment to The Beagle: " If there’s a problem associated with leachate at the Brou Tip and recycling depot, wouldn’t the same sort of thing, leachate, be a potential problem at the Surf beach Tip and Wimbee Creek and possibly other places such as our cemeteries?
