SHOALHAVEN City Council has been accused of trying to mislead the community over hydrogen sulphide levels detected at Callala.
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In an attempt to ease community concerns over hydrogen sulphide, also known as rotten egg gas, from rotting seaweed covering several kilometres of sand in the Callala region, council monitored air quality for three days at two locations.
The result was a maximum reading of 4.1 parts per million from a monitoring station set up in a foreshore property at Callala Bay, and 1.4 parts per million from a station within the Callala Bay township.
The top readings came about noon on Saturday.
Despite the readings, council sent out information on Monday evening claiming, “The bayside site monitoring gave an average of 0 parts per million parts in the atmosphere.”
It said the same of the site in the town, despite both claims being mathematically impossible.
Callala Bay resident Kevin Somerville questioned what council was trying to hide.
“I don’t think they’re being forthright with their information,” Mr Somerville said.
“I don’t think they’re releasing all the information they have, and I don’t know the motivation behind that.”
Mr Somerville said the council information did nothing to explain the number of people in Callala Bay and Callala Beach experiencing breathing difficulties, sore throats, eye irritations, dizziness, headaches and nausea - all associated with exposure to hydrogen sulphide.
It also did not explain why external metal fittings in some areas had turned black, and why silver jewellery worn by women going into the water at Callala Bay went black within five minutes.
“I think information is being withheld, and I don’t know why,” Mr Somerville said.
Council general manager Russ Pigg said the average reading “effectively is zero”.
“To me the average isn’t the important issue, the peak reading is the issue,” Mr Pigg said.
Council has downplayed concerns about possible health implications of peak readings, saying it had sought advice of NSW Health “and they have advised that this is a naturally occurring process and generally there are no health effects because it is occurring in the open environment”.
A NSW Health fact sheet also claimed, “Some eye irritation can occur at levels around 50 to 100ppm.”
However this is at odds with findings of the World Health Organisation.
A report, ‘Hydrogen Sulfide: Human Health Aspects’, prepared by a group of international experts for the WHO claimed increased eye complaints at a hydrogen sulphide level of 3.55 parts per million.
It also mentioned people with asthma suffering breathing problems and bronchial constriction at a level of just two parts per million.
The WHO report stated tolerable levels of hydrogen sulphide exposure were 0.071 parts per million for exposures up to 14 days, and 0.0142 parts per million for exposures from 14 to 90 days.
Callala residents have been raising concerns about smells and gases coming from the waist-deep weed for about five months.
While information released by council has been criticised, Shoalhaven Mayor Paul Green defended council’s actions.
“This really is a health issue, and the Health Department is not interested one iota in monitoring the levels and keeping the community informed,” Cr Green said.
“At least council is trying to do something about meeting community concerns.”
