LAKE Macquarie residents must be wondering where asbestos will next be found in the city.
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The Lakes Mail's recent stories about more asbestos trouble at Rathmines Scout Hall put the insidious material back in the headlines. Again.
In recent years, the Hunter Central Coast Regional Illegal Dumping (RID) Squad has found asbestos illegally dumped in multiple bushland locations.
Wyee has proved a hot spot for asbestos dumping, and there was one 10-tonne haul of the stuff in a residential street in Morisset in April.
Lake Macquarie City Council found asbestos buried at Bernie Goodwin Memorial Park, forcing the $1.4-million upgrade of the Morisset facility to stall.
Council also discovered asbestos in the Rathmines Community Hall, forcing prolonged closure of that building and delaying the $1-million upgrade of the heritage-listed asset.
Asbestos has also dogged the Rathmines Scout Hall.
When council first detected asbestos there in 2017, it forced a lock-out of the scouts and the incineration of thousands of dollars worth of new equipment.
The scouts hope to be back in the building next year.
Asbestos has even been found in the water.
In February, council closed the jetty and lake baths at Kilaben Bay because of the suspected presence of asbestos in the piles of the swimming enclosure.
Those suspicions were confirmed by testing in June.
So why all the fuss, and the worry, about asbestos?
Because of the threat it poses to health.
Asbestos can be any of six naturally occurring fibrous minerals that were once used in fireproofing, soundproofing and insulation.
Asbestos cement materials were first manufactured in the 1920s and were commonly used in residential and commercial buildings up to the 1980s.
That's why the buildings that make up the former RAAF base at Rathmines have been affected.
Asbestos was also used in the manufacturing of household products such as crock pots and hairdryers.
The danger is that asbestos is extremely hazardous when it becomes broken and airborne, and inhaled.
The fibres can become lodged in the tissue of the respiratory system and, over time, can lead to health concerns including mesothelioma and other lung diseases.
