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Friday 19, November, 2004 13:30 - 16:00, International Conference Hall Plenary Session 2 Environmental Exposure, Crisis Preparedness and Risk Communication Chairs: Mari Christine and Oshima Sumiko Living in the Shadow of the Asbestos Hills (The Need for Risk Based Cleanup Strategies for Environmental Asbestos Contamination in South Africa) Robert Jones Rhodes University Department of Environmental Science, South Africa ABSTRACT: Asbestos mining occurred in South Africa from 1893 to 2001 resulting in large areas of the Country being made permanently hazardous. In total, an area of many thousands of square kilometers now contains substantial environmental contamination as result of improperly controlled asbestos waste material that is directly attributable to the former mining operations. There is considerable confusion, even in more developed countries, as to how to determine an acceptable level of soil cleanup in areas contaminated by asbestos fibres. A clear standard for soil remediation is needed that is protective of human health. This can only be determined once a clear relationship between residual soil asbestos levels and entrainment of fibres can be established. This report suggests that a Risk-Based Corrective Action Strategy (RCBA) is needed for a safe and sustainable level of rehabilitation. Furthermore, contrary to current practice, rehabilitation should continue beyond the limits of the former mining activity footprint into the adjacent communities where it can be documented that the contamination is the result of uncontrolled fibre release or improper disposal of mining waste. The cleanup strategy should then target those areas that are most likely to lead to exposure such as public places, homes, gardens, pedestrian paths, playgrounds, schools, and roads. Current literature suggests the rehabilitation threshold for soil asbestos contamination in South Africa should be lowered by several orders of magnitude particularly in areas that pose a hazard for human exposure. What is needed most, however, is a comprehensive assessment and cleanup strategy and the funding to carry it out. Lowering of the soil cleanup threshold will no doubt add many hundreds, perhaps thousands of sites that require remediation to the current list. Since the government of South Africa has accepted the responsibility to cleanup the mess left by the mining companies, their work has only just begun. |