Lords Place on hold as big wet leads to unplanned pit stop; brown Orange water sent for testing

November 2, 2022

One of the tree pits on Lords Place on Wednesday night. Copyright: Orange News Examiner.

By Peter Holmes

Samples from the brown water pooling in the new tree pits on Lords Place will be sent to Sydney for testing after work was shut down on Wednesday following heavy rains.

Orange City Council’s director of technical services Ian Greenham said the pits had been secured, and that council would be testing the air and water that had pooled following routine analysis showing the presence of hydrocarbons.

“Fuel, oil and road tar are examples of hydrocarbons,” Mr Greenham said in a statement.

“To ensure we meet our work, health, safety and environmental obligations we are undertaking testing of air and water in the pits.

“We want to assure businesses and the community that we don’t believe there is any risk, particularly with the damp conditions,” he said.

The results of testing are expected to be known within days.

Council has set itself a December deadline to "deliver the first phase of the project".

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