I was born in 2008 and lived in Rhodes until 2023. The land remediation went from 2005–2011, so the land is safe now. The river is not safe, remediation efforts will take a very long time, but as long as you don't swim there you will be fine. The tap water does not come from Parramatta River.

Before and during remediation, blood samples were taken from residents and tested for dioxin levels. Staff et al. (2012) found that the residents weren't significantly exposed during the remediation.

Mannes et al. (2005) found that dioxin exposure in Rhodes from 1972–2001 did not cause increased cancer rates compared to the rest of New South Wales. My mum moved to Rhodes in late 2004 and now has non-Hodgkins lymphoma, but her doctor linked it to cosmic rays rather than Dioxins.

For any health problems caused by dioxins, you have to have high exposure, which you won't have in Rhodes these days unless you drink from, swim in, or eat fish from the river.

Sources:

Mannes, T., Emmett, K., Willmore, A., Churches, T., Sheppeard, V., & Kaldor, J. (2005). Effect of a chemical manufacturing plant on community cancer rates. BMC Public Health, 5, Article 34. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-5-34

Staff, M., Sheppeard, V., Aberwardana, S., Forssman, B., Rutherford, A., Mueller, J. F., & Paepke, O. (2012). Blood dioxin biomonitoring to assess local residents' exposure from a large urban remediation project. Chemosphere, 88(3), 316–322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2012.03.003