Cornubia
warehouse attack – the road to recovery
Executive
summary
UPL South
Africa has spent significant amounts of money on its clean-up, remediation and
rehabilitation efforts since the July 12th, 2021,
arson attack on its leased Cornubia warehouse. In the subsequent period,
remarkable progress has been made by the team of independent experts appointed
by UPL, together with the guidance of the relevant authorities.
Cornubia
warehouse attack – the road to recovery
Executive
summary
UPL South
Africa has spent significant amounts of money on its clean-up, remediation and
rehabilitation efforts since the July 12th, 2021,
arson attack on its leased Cornubia warehouse. In the subsequent period,
remarkable progress has been made by the team of independent experts appointed
by UPL, together with the guidance of the relevant authorities.
Overall, the
concentrations of contaminants/substances related to the spill have declined substantially (dropping
to either a fraction of original concentration or undetectable level) in
the system since the end of November 2021.
UPL, in collaboration with health
authorities, established a health clinic staffed at UPL’s expense. An extensive
public awareness campaign (including notifications to those who lodged
complaints) inviting the public and complainants for a health assessment was
launched.
Encouragingly, at this
point, it appears from both the testing of first responders and on-site
personnel, as well as those few people who have attended the clinic, that there
is very little by way of serious health impacts attributable to either the fire
or the spill.
Revegetation trials have begun and work with grass sods in
January 2022 has shown success in re-establishing vegetation. Experts are also
looking to establish a plant and tree nursery and begin propagating plants
indigenous to the area to use in revegetation initiatives.
In March 2022 the marine and estuary
specialists released a report to the authorities on bivalves (oysters and
mussels) in the spill affected coastal areas. The report found that the oysters
and mussels do not represent a threat to human health as a result of the
spill.
Unfortunately, however, the
report cautioned the authorities that these bivalves do pose a risk to human
health from various other causes like
sewerage and wastewater which are not connected to
the spill or to UPL.
These
developments demonstrate the success of UPL’s enormous clean-up efforts, as
well as the natural degradation that pesticides are subjected to in the
environment, and which will have been acting during the extensive clean-up
processes that has been undertaken.
The team of independent experts
includes leading air quality, toxicological, human health, freshwater,
wetland, environmental engineering, and coastal, estuarine and marine
specialists.
The expert team has guided the
approach to clean up, remediation and rehabilitation. Their work has also
included:
· - Assessing/sampling the water and sediment at set points throughout the
system
· - Assessing certain parts of the food chain’s (trophic levels) health in
the ecosystem
· - Carrying out toxicity tests
· - Herpetological (snakes/frogs) and entomological (insect) surveys of the site and potentially affected ecosystems have also been commissioned and supervised.
Initial
actions focused on containing and removing contaminated water and sediments
from the nearby tributary, down to its confluence with the Ohlanga River,
and on containing and removing contaminated material from the warehouse site
and immediate surrounds, to make them safe.
Contaminated
sediment and other materials were excavated over August and September 2021.
During this period sediments in the tributary streambed were high-pressure
washed and the resulting water was sucked out of the channel and appropriately
disposed of.
In addition, the estuary was fenced
off, and signage erected to prevent access by the public. This has
significantly aided the rehabilitation and restoration of the estuary. A
stormwater attenuation dam was repurposed and lined with bentonite to serve as
a reservoir for affected run off from the site. All waste has been disposed of
in an approved method to Class A landfills.
The tributary was reshaped to create a
sinuous treatment dam. The purpose of this dam is to create a meandering rather
than straight stream channel, slowing the flow of the water and increasing its
exposure to sunlight and natural biochemical breakdown processes, which would
optimise and enhance the natural breakdown pathways of residual
pesticides.
Where excavation of contaminated sediments
had taken place, these streambanks were partially reshaped, and rocks placed to
prevent erosion.
As
contamination levels have dropped, the focus has shifted to more advanced
remediation and rehabilitation efforts.
UPL is committed to continuing and building on the current work and gains made in terms of rehabilitating the spill impacted system in concert with the authorities and guided by the team of experts.
THE ROAD TO RECOVERY - FULL DOCUMENT - AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD (PDF)
