Expert warns Clovelly Park residents to leave immediately

A leading industrial chemist has urged residents living in contaminated Clovelly Park in Adelaide’s southern suburbs to leave immediately.

Leading industrial chemist Professor Stephen Lincoln has warned the dangerous chemical trichloroethylene, better known as TCE, is especially dangerous for pregnant women and young children.

It is an industrial solvent used primarily as a degreaser at the now closed Monroe and Mitsubishi.

“If you have longer exposure, potentially you could develop very serious illnesses such as cancer,” Prof Lincoln said.

He said while exposure levels from groundwater at Clovelly Park may be low, there is no room for complacency.

“You should not be exposed, certainly long-term, to a chemical that is potentially dangerous,” Prof Lincoln said.

“Those people should be removed from the environment as soon as possible.”

He said authorities needed to assess those most at risk.

“Women who are thinking of becoming pregnant, who are pregnant or young children who are developing very quickly are the most vulnerable,” he said.

But the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains there is no urgency.

“We’ve got about six months according to the advice from health, so we’re doing that in an orderly way,” Peter Dolan from the agency said.

The Clovelly Park scare has also drifted to neighbouring Mitchell Park.

Residents there fear their homes may also be contaminated.