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In response to the review, the NSW Environment Protection Agency (EPA) proposed three future funding options. The first was to continue the existing program at a cost of $1.8 million a year. The agency said this would ensure child blood lead levels did not worsen but were unlikely to improve, and the funding would need to continue indefinitely. Boosting funding to $5.7 million a year – the EPA’s recommended option – would increase the number of homes funded for lead removal from 20 to 180 a year indefinitely. This would enable more proactive and targeted remediation, including for up to 90 homes housing women who were pregnant. The “best practice” option proposed involved spending $11.5 million a year for 13 years ($149.5 million) to fully remediate public spaces and 500 homes a year until the environmental risks are removed. This would ensure “all children will live in a lead-safe house in the city of Broken Hill”, the agency wrote.
