Mulwala Remediation Project

The Mulwala Facility in NSW, is a Defence owned site leased by Thales Australia. This site has long been associated with explosives and chemical manufacture.

Past site operations and waste management practices have resulted in soil and groundwater contamination. Contamination of concern include the elevated concentrations of nitrate and sulphate.

Defence is working closely with Thales who is project managing the remediation and ensuring there is no disruption to plant production and work safety.

An auditor endorsed phased remediation program was developed and the site cleanup is being reported to the NSW Environment Protection Authority.

The remediation plan includes:

• ongoing management of an offsite dissolved phase plume to reduce the impact of the contamination
• a hydraulic containment system operated and maintained on a full time basis
• groundwater being monitored to assess the effectiveness of the system.

Defence periodically assesses the performance of the hydraulic containment system. This is to determine adjustments required to further mitigate the offsite migration of contaminants. Thales undertakes a groundwater monitoring and communication program with residents located within the area of the offsite plume.

Groundwater advice

It is recommended the groundwater in the area of the Mulwala facility is not used for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene (cleaning teeth and bathing) without testing and appropriate treatment.

Use of the groundwater for other domestic or agricultural purposes should be carefully considered.

For further information visit the NSW Government Health Groundwater page.