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Organochlorine contamination of groundwater by pulp and paper mill effluent in South Australia

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Created 20/01/2025

Updated 20/01/2025

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In June 1989, a contaminated private well was identified close to a drain which carries pulp and paper mill effluent to Lake Bonney, in the southeast of South Australia. Investigations over a period of two-and-half years involving the construction of 25 investigation wells in three stages were carried out. The initial stage confirmed that the drain was the source of the problem. The results of sampling at seven discreet sites indicated that there is one site with extensive groundwater contamination (the site where the problem was first identified), and one site with significant contamination close to Lake Bonney. At the site with extensive contamination it is concluded that the upper 10 m of the local unconfined aquifer is contaminated. The actual extent of the plume is at least 900 m parallel with the drain and at least 250 m away from the drain. Contaminants identified include the organochlorine solvents chloroform, tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene, as well as other compounds typical of pulp mill effluent. The hydraulic relationship between the drain and groundwater was investigated and this confirmed that the areas where contamination was found were those with the highest pollution potential on hydraulic grounds. lt is apparent that there has been no serious impact on beneficial use of the groundwater resource, although one farmer has had to replace two stock supply wells. The pulp and paper mill is close to completion of a major redevelopment, including installation of a chemical recovery process. A consequence of this is that most of the pollutants are now being burnt. Over the last three years, the mill has also changed from chlorine bleaching to a peroxide process, which has eliminated the bulk of the organochlorines in the effluent. Organochlorine solvents are still used as cleaning agents, but alternatives are being actively sought. A number of options for management of the problem ranging from basic monitoring to remediation of the hot spot are discussed.

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Title Organochlorine contamination of groundwater by pulp and paper mill effluent in South Australia
Language eng
Licence notspecified
Landing Page https://devweb.dga.links.com.au/data/dataset/594c2d2b-2344-48bc-b2b5-81bca5ace880
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[139.85, -37.91], [140.93, -37.91], [140.93, -36.33], [139.85, -36.33], [139.85, -37.91]]]}
Data Portal data.gov.au

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on data.gov.au "Organochlorine contamination of groundwater by pulp and paper mill effluent in South Australia". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://devweb.dga.links.com.au/data/dataset/organochlorine-contamination-of-groundwater-by-pulp-and-paper-mill-effluent-in-south-australia