Experts in environmental risk assessment and remediation from across Australia will gather in Perth today for the first working meeting of the Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE).
Experts in environmental risk assessment and remediation from across Australia will gather in Perth today for the first working meeting of the Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE).
Curtin University of Technology is a supporting member of CRC CARE.
"WA scientists and industry will play a vital role in helping to develop the clean-up technologies of the future," says CRC CARE managing director Professor Ravi Naidu.
"Australia has an estimated 100,000 potentially contaminated sites - the outcome of over a century of industrial development. The cost of clean-up is huge - exceeding $5 to $8 billion. Meanwhile, Asia has an estimated 3 million sites.
"This pollution of our soil, water and air poses a recognised threat to the environment and human health," he says.
"The scientists, agencies and companies who work together in CRC CARE are seeking the best ways to assess the risks and develop tailored solutions to each problem - solutions which are both safe and affordable."
"The CRC will also help WA industry to become world leaders in the management and prevention of contamination, and WA regulators to set international standards of excellence in risk assessment and clean-up," Professor Naidu adds.
It will also provide expert training for young WA scientists who want to make our cities and environment safer and cleaner for society.
Professor Naidu says the CRC already has strong links and joint programs in countries such as China, South Korea, India and Bangladesh and is in a position to help WA's environmental industry develop the necessary contacts and collaborations.
"By helping to clean up the industrial mistakes of the past, we are not only helping to build a safer future for all, but also generating significant prosperity and jobs for Australians.
"For example, we estimate that simply cleaning up urban land in Australia's cities which is currently unusable due to past contamination, it could add from $500m to $1.8 billion to the economy each year."
The acting manager, Air Quality Management for the WA Department of the Environment, Dr John Sutton, said an important focus of the WA work of the CRC would be on air quality issues associated with industrial development.
Western Australian partners in the new CRC include the Chemistry Centre of WA, Curtin University of Technology, the WA Department of the Environment, Alcoa Pty Ltd, Worsley Alumina Pty Ltd and BP.
"It is through this partnership of science, government and industry that we aim not only to come up with the world's best technologies for combating contamination, but also its highest standards for protecting the health of our citizens and their environment," Professor Naidu says.
"Having world-best standards will help us to build a highly profitable new export industry in contamination assessment and remediation - and help the fast-industrialising countries of Asia head off the problems they are facing."
Professor Naidu says that WA already has an outstanding reputation for its interest in building clean, green and sustainable industries. Environmental clean-up represents a new and large economic opportunity for the State to capitalize on its scientific, technical and industrial expertise and emerge as an international leader.