When Taylah and Dillon Gruber moved into their newly-purchased Tarago home in November, she was three months pregnant.
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Like many new home-owners, they immediately got stuck into sprucing the place up, cleaning piles of black silt from the window frames and planting a vegetable patch.
They also got some laying hens, and settled their dogs into their new backyard.
It wasn't until late February that they learned that lead contamination had been found in a nearby railway corridor, and that Transport for NSW (TfNSW) had known about it since 2015.
The lead contamination has been traced back to loading of lead ore at the nearby railway by the former Woodlawn Mine, and subsequent disturbance of the land to construct the new rail siding.
Following soil and water testing on their property, the Grubers found that their tank water sediment results were 3.3 (normal limits are less than 0.01mg/L2) and their soil sample result was 540mg/Kg (normal limits are less than 300mg/kg).
Since then, Mrs Gruber has been given conflicting advice about how to live with the lead contamination in their property, with NSW Health telling her to use bottled water for her daughter's care, and a TfNSW project manager saying her tank water was not a concern.
"I wanted to assure you that based on the data collected from your property there would be no concerns to the health of you and your family from drinking and regularly using the water from the your rainwater tanks," he said in the April 28 letter.
Dust sampling inside the home, delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions, took place on April 29, and they are still awaiting the report.
Now, uncomfortable in her own home with her newborn daughter, Harlow, Mrs Gruber is staying with her parents in Canberra and is asking: why has nothing been done yet?
"It's been three months since they admitted our house was contaminated, and we haven't seen any action," said Mrs Gruber.
"There's just a lot of talking and nothing happening.
"We've got a daughter now, and we wouldn't have bought this house if we knew that the contamination was there.
"We've got chickens but can't eat their eggs, got a vege patch and can't eat what it produces, the dogs can't be in the dirt...All the things we wanted to do we can't."
Mrs Gruber was told early on that her water tanks would need cleaning out to remove sediment, and contaminated soil would need to be removed from the backyard.
In a letter dated April 7, she asked TfNSW to confirm that they would take care of the lead contamination removal, and reimburse them for the value of their property if that wasn't possible.
She is still awaiting a formal reply, having so far only received an acknowledgement on April 28 regarding her April 7 letter.
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In response to inquiries about the Gruber's concerns, a spokesperson for TfNSW has said that any action will be months away.
"By the end of July, Transport for NSW will have developed an interim site management plan to ensure risks to health and environment are minimised while the investigations and short and longer term plans are developed, such as a township-wide water tank cleaning policy," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said that TfNSW is currently working through questions received from residents and will provide direct responses as those results become available.
"To protect the privacy of residents Transport for NSW will not comment on the specifics of individual cases," the spokesperson said.
"To date Ramboll Group, on behalf of Transport for NSW, has taken over 700 samples, soil, water and dust, from about 40 individual properties throughout the Tarago township.
"Each of these samples have or are currently being analysed at certified laboratories.
"Two independent environmental experts, one of which has been nominated by the NSW Environment Protection Authority, are overseeing the process."
As to her own health, Mrs Gruber had her blood lead level checked while she was in hospital giving birth, and the results suggested a "low but acceptable" level of 2. (5 is considered concerning.)
But Mrs Gruber, who is a registered nurse, feels she may have felt some effects of lead contamination.
"My pregnancy developed a number of complications, my daughter was born via emergency C-section, and tube-fed due to her low birth weight," she said.
"Many of the symptoms I experienced are symptoms of lead contamination such as gestational hypertension, severe headache, fatigue and vomiting. I am well aware that lead poisoning can pass through the placenta to a foetus."
Mrs Gruber said she and her family need some certainty, and are considering engaging legal representation.
"I still haven't heard a proper response (to the April 7 letter)," she said.
"When are they going to fix this?"
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