South Australian EPA Media Release

22 November 2022

Groundwater prohibition area for Beverley and surrounding suburbs

The Environment Protection Authority will establish a Groundwater Prohibition Area (GPA) for parts of Beverley, Woodville, Woodville South, Woodville West, Woodville Park, West Croydon, Kilkenny, Findon and Seaton.

The EPA has completed a three–month community engagement process and considered all
submissions.

The GPA will come into effect when it is gazetted on 8 December 2022 and will be the ninth in South Australia.

The GPA prevents the taking of groundwater from the upper three aquifers to a depth of 45 metres.

The area is shown in the attached map.

The suburbs in the GPA have a commercial, industrial and manufacturing history and the
groundwater has been contaminated, including with per– and poly–fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), cyanide and metals such as chromium.

Widespread use of solvents as degreasers has also resulted in contamination of the groundwater with petroleum and chlorinated hydrocarbons such as trichloroethene (TCE), tetrachloroethene (PCE) and their degradation products.

Deeper aquifers used by schools and councils are not known to be affected.
Using contaminated bore water for drinking, showering, washing, filling swimming pools, watering lawns or irrigating edible produce over a long period of time is considered a health risk in these areas.

Not all properties with bores are registered or known, but the prohibition covers the entire area of known contamination and a buffer zone