A KANIVA farmer fears an illegal waste dump near the town will never be cleaned up.
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Tiarnee Dyer's concerns come as the Environmental Protection Authority hosted a drop-in session at Kaniva Shire Hall on Tuesday regarding the matter.
The head of the EPA for the northwest region says the body will now put together a strategy on how to identify exactly what the waste is, and how to dispose of it.
Media reports on July 19 suggested chemical waste was illegally buried on 1400 acres farmland on Kaniva-Edenhope Road - a property owned by the same man linked to at least nine other chemical dump sites in Melbourne's north.
The EPA said an accurate figure for the amount of waste was not available at this stage, but the material found at the property, located about 15 kilometres south of Kaniva, had not damaged the area's groundwater supply.
Mrs Dyer lives with her husband Jonathan and three children on a property south of Kaniva.
She said the EPA was not releasing a timeline for the clean-up.
She said there were concerns the landowner would not comply with the clean-up notice.
"They also said if they deem risk to the water table to be low, then the clean-up process might pose a greater risk of contamination," she said.
The landowner, Graham Leslie White, is in prison for serious firearms offences.
Mrs Dyer said she wasn't satisfied with the EPA's assessment there was no risk of contamination.
"The top layer of soil in that area is sand, and water moves really quickly through sand - but then it would hit a layer of clay where it would slowly travel sideways, so contamination could still occur," she said.
"What I'd hope is some type of clean-up process could be put in place. The containers the chemicals are stored in will, over time, disintegrate - so the risk may not necessarily be to me, but my children or grandchildren."
Kaniva Fire Brigade's Brad Witmitz said the Country Fire Authority was drafting a plan that in the event firefighters had to go to the property, they knew what to do.
"As a group, we are fairly disappointed how it's all been going. If we have to go fight a fire there, we have no idea what chemicals we are coming into contact with," he said.
"We know as much as the community does. We would hope in the future we can get some clarity from the EPA of what the chemicals are.
"We have heard from the EPA it's positive it can contain the area and keep the chemicals out of the groundwater, so hopefully it's not going to be a huge issue."
Dr Scott Pigdon, the EPA's regional manager northwest, said the body had chosen to bring forward the information session in response to reports in the media.
"We did not want to scare people when there was no risk to the general community and we have been talking to landowners in the area across our investigations. But following (the coverage) we want to come earlier to prevent hysteria," he said.
"Up until now, we have undertaken a series of work to make sure people are safe and so is the environment. We are now confident we can drive over the property safely.
"What we're now looking at doing is setting up a process whereby we can establish what chemicals are actually there and what the clean-up looks like into the future."
Dr Pigdon said if the landowner did not clean-up the property within the time of compliance, he would be issued with a breach notice and another investigation would occur.
He said the EPA had been in "constant contact" with the CFA at a district level and understood that if there was a fire at the property, the local brigade would not be called - but firefighters with a greater level of training.
GWMWater acting managing director Andrew Rose said the body would continue to test the water and share the information with the EPA, who would keep Kaniva informed.
"We have been advised the sampling out at the farm site is revealing no contamination," he said.
"The EPA has also done vapour testing so there is no evidence of chemical vapour on the surface."
Mr Rose said there was a "really good turnout" to the meeting.
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