Dust clouds prompt soil wetting call

The Jerrabomberra Residents Group is blaming a lack of government action for a spate of respiratory tract infections in Jerrabomberra and Letchworth, adjacent to the ACT.

The group's president, Margot Sachse, says north-westerly winds are churning up top soil on the nearby jail site and carrying huge dust clouds into the suburbs, making people sick.

She says with dry summer conditions just around the corner, the problem will only get worse.

"You can see these large dust clouds and you can picture them from the Monaro Highway or anywhere," she said.

"It's pretty clear that the soil is coming form the jail site, and so the problem will only get worse if they don't start wetting down the site, particularly when we get strong winds blowing."