Assessment and Remediation of Lead Contamination in Esperance, Western Australia

This paper presents an overview of a lead contamination event that occurred over a period of time in and around Esperance, Western Australia. It also describes the scientific developments necessary to effect the large scale cleanup of lead contamination in the town. This work was possibly the largest environmental cleanup of its kind ever undertaken in Australia. The work undertaken involved characterisation and assessment of the extent of contamination, development of remediation techniques and validation procedures to ensure that that this cleaning had been successful.