Coroner & Legal
Probe into water quality, panel members
WATER quality will go under the microscope with a panel of scientists to investigate supplies in Tasmania’s North-East.
Environment Protection Authority chairman John Ramsay has convened the panel and will chair the board, which includes three interstate experts.
It follows concerns about the health effects of chemicals in drinking water, particularly in the George River which supplies tourist town St Helens.
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Public health director Roscoe Taylor has been under pressure to act for several years over forestry and farm poisons found in waterways.
New concerns have arisen over the potential for selectively bred plantation eucalypts to leach a more concentrated substance than natural eucalypts, which may be harmful.
These concerns were raised by St Helens GP Alison Bleaney on the ABC’s Australian Story last month.
Dr Bleaney said the water quality investigation should be open and transparent.
“It must be a public inquiry, not just government-focused,” she said.
Mr Ramsay said the panel would examine the evidence, write a report then pass it to the Premier. He said an interim report, to be released by the end of May, would include an assessment of the research conducted by Dr Bleaney and interstate scientist Marcus Scammell, and any other relevant studies.
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Mr Ramsay said all information would be at www.georgeriverwater.org.au, which would be online by the end of the week.
Who’s Who on the Panel:
Water quality:
Graeme Batley, CSIRO environmental biogeochemistry chief research scientist
Public health:
Dr John McNeil, head of Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine
Aquaculture:
Christine Crawford, natural resource manager at Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute
Chemistry of eucalypts:
Professor Jim Reid, University of Tasmania School of Plant Science*
Environmental Toxicology:
National Research Centre professor Michael Moore
Co-ordinating scientist and consultant:
Dr Lois Koehnken
*Earlier on TT: in comments, HERE