The program to remove or decommission 22 underground oil storage tanks from Canberra public schools will be completed by the end of June, more than 30 years after most of the tanks were last used.
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Development applications to remove the tanks, once used to store heating oil for school boilers, have recently been filed for another four primary schools and one secondary school.
The removal of the tanks and site remediation will cost $320,000, part of $700,000 allocated by the ACT Education and Training Directorate this year to remove nine tanks, the last known at public schools. A further seven investigations will occur to confirm previous removals.
A directorate spokesman said work at the Chapman, Hughes, Macquarie and Torrens public primary schools, and at Erindale College in Wanniassa, was expected to take three to four weeks for each site depending on individual conditions.
"The majority of oil-fired boiler heating systems were converted to natural gas in 1982-1983," he said.
The same boilers continued in use, but the heating source was shifted.
The tanks at the four primary schools will be dug up from under garden beds or paved areas, while the two tanks at Erindale College will be removed from under a section of the car park.
"It is an Environment Protection Agency requirement that the ground surrounding the [tank] is tested for oil contamination," the spokesman said.
"This does not suggest that the soil is in fact contaminated at each site."
The spokesman said there had been several other underground storage-tank removal activities in the past, but specific records – which should detail any contamination – were "not readily available without a detailed file search".
"Any instances of soil contamination discovered in any previous tank removals has been safely managed in accordance with EPA requirements," he said.
The tanks range in capacity from the 4100-litre storage at Hughes to the two 22,700-litre tanks at Wanniassa.
Tank removals were completed at five sites last financial year with one further underground tank decommissioned where it sat.
"All schools are being checked to confirm their tank status based on original construction plans where available," he said.
