In March, Santos received a surge of negative press attention over the 2013 contamination incident with the company’s test results clocking up uranium levels that were 20 times above Australia’s recommended levels.
Santos, which was fined $1500 for the incident, blamed a “poorly constructed” wastewater pond it decommissioned in late 2011, not long after it acquired the project from Eastern Star Gas.
In an update on Thursday, Santos said it was nearing completion of extensive work on decommissioning and upgrading water storage facilities.
“The source of the [contaminated] water detected by the monitoring bores remains unclear. However, it is likely that some of the water detected is due to previous integrity issues associated with the lining of Tintsfield Pond 1,” Santos said.
“Pond 1 was emptied and the lining repaired in late 2013. There has been no water flow into Tintsfield Pond 2 from our operations since mid-2012. Santos will further investigate possible integrity issues associated with the lining of Pond 2 once it has been emptied.”
Santos said it sought NSW Government approval to transfer the water in Pond 2 to the new centralised water facilities at Leewood.
It also said the Environmental Protection Agency had not made any findings, plus clarified that the “elevated salinity and naturally occurring heavy metals” detected in the water were not connected to any “useable aquifer”
