THE Environmental Protection Authority has issued a clean-up notice to the owner of a property near Kaniva, on which there are 20 underground dump sites of suspected industrial waste.
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Graham Leslie White, who has been in prison for serious firearms offences and was due to be released in September, could face fines if he fails to comply.
The EPA said, in a statement last week, that the clean-up notice was a legally enforceable notice.
The organisation will monitor compliance.
"EPA, with GWMWater, will continue to monitor the groundwater through an expanded program," the statement said. "Access to the remote site is limited and local police are aware of the situation."
The EPA said clean-up notices aimed to prevent further contamination and impact on beneficial uses. It said this could be through removal of waste, ongoing management of pollution or altered handling, storage or location of industrial or prescribed industrial waste.
The organisation said a court may order the recipient of a clean-up notice to pay a fine of up to 2400 penalty units if they are found guilty of contravening a requirement. For the 2019-20 financial year, one penalty unit was equal to $165.22.
The 1400-acre property is located 15 kilometres south of Kaniva on Kaniva-Edenhope Road. The EPA first visited the site in July 2018.
The EPA declined to comment further when contacted by the Mail-Times. The Mail-Times has also contacted Member for Lowan Emma Kealy after she staged a listening post in Kaniva on Tuesday last week regarding the dump.
In July, the EPA hosted a community information session in Kaniva, during which farmers expressed their concerns the dump would never be cleaned up.
Wemen-based carrot growers Rocky Lamattina and Sons own a 6000-hectare carrot farm near the property.
Director Angelo Lamattina said he was pleased with the way EPA had handled investigations.
"I don't believe this is going to cause any issue for my business," he said.
"I do my own soil tests and water monitoring - I have been for years - and we've compared notes with the EPA and haven't seen any issues of contaminants in the water or soil, so at this stage I'm not concerned.
"I'm just concerned about people dumping waste. That to me is wrong."
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