Experts say PFAS a 'silent, unknown risk' in regional NSW water amid transparency and equity concerns over testing outside of Sydney
Experts are warning more transparency is needed amid concerns drinking water in regional NSW is not being adequately monitored for PFAS chemicals. (ABC News: Shaun Kingma)
In short:
Experts warn communities in regional NSW are vulnerable to PFAS contamination in their water supplies, due to a lack of testing transparency.
Unsafe levels of the cancer-linked chemical were found in a drinking water catchment supplying 41,000 homes in the Upper Blue Mountains in June.
What's next:
A NSW parliamentary inquiry into PFAS in waterways and drinking supplies begins today.
The NSW government has taken action to shore up the safety of Sydney's drinking water from "forever chemicals", but there are concerns over the "silent, unknown" risk of regional communities' water supplies.
The government has consistently said the state's drinking water is safe, but the vast majority have never been tested for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — a family of chemicals in firefighting foam and everyday products that remain in the environment.
Despite reassurances, in June it was revealed contaminated water was being supplied to at least 41,000 homes in the Upper Blue Mountains.
Sydney Water found unsafe levels of PFAS chemicals in water supplying thousands of homes in the Blue Mountains earlier this year. (ABC News: Carl Saville)
University of Western Sydney water scientist Ian Wright said if Sydney Water, the state's largest supplier, can fail to detect contamination, then this could happen anywhere.
"I'm really concerned at the moment that we have a whole lot of silent, unknown, Blue Mountain level contaminations happening across the state," Dr Wright said.
"If that can happen in our best-resourced and most-populous area, I feel so sorry and apprehensive about the small water utilities often run by councils."
Sydney Water is testing the North Richmond and Cascade Water filtration plants weekly, and uploading the results publicly.
Regional water suppliers still waiting for results
In September, NSW Health offered one-off opt-in PFAS tests to the 89 regional water utilities, mostly councils, that supply almost 2 million people outside Sydney and the Hunter regions.
At the time, Minister for Water Rose Jackson said the government was "committed to transparency, ensuring the community has access to up-to-date information".
Pressure on governments had mounted after the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) released draft guidelines that would drastically lower what's considered safe in Australia.
The United States Environment Protection Agency says there is no safe level of PFAS exposure in drinking water.
A NSW Health spokesperson said it would write to all local water providers to confirm they had undertaken testing and "re-iterating the expectation that those testing results should be published and available to local communities as soon as practicable".
NSW Health said 54 suppliers had undertaken tests this year, while four utilities were being retested because initial tests were insufficient.
The ABC also approached all 89 regional water suppliers. Of those, 26 said they were yet to receive the results.
Another 34 either did not respond to any questions from the ABC or did not supply results.
Hay Shire said it was unable to share the result, while Warrumbungle Shire told the ABC it was "still considering the risk of PFAS".
Parkes Shire said they had the results in an Excel format but did not share them.
Kempsey and Murrumbidgee councils referred questions back to NSW Health, while Coffs Harbour did not provide the requested information.
Despite this, these councils said their water was safe.
Some suppliers, including Tweed, Upper Hunter, Greater Hume and Riverina Water, have released results to back-up their claims of safe water.
Nicholas Chartres, a senior research fellow from the University of Sydney's Faculty of Medicine and Health, said the public has a right to access taxpayer-funded information and safe water.
"All levels of government need to learn from this and to ensure the public is being provided with accurate, timely information," he said.
At least two suppliers at or above proposed limit
Dr Ian Wright said he was "really concerned" about possible contamination around the state. (ABC Central West: Micaela Hambrett)
Among the 18 results the ABC received from councils, two water supplies have PFAS contamination above or at the proposed NHMRC limit.
In November, Riverina Water switched off a bore in the village of Tarcutta, outside of Wagga Wagga, after receiving results indicating PFOS, a form of PFAS, almost four times the draft limit.
It has also warned PFAS contamination from the Forest Hill RAAF Base poses "a significant" and imminent risk to East Wagga supply bores.
PFOS were also detected at Bungendore, near the NSW/ACT border, at the new limit for safe consumption.
PFAS has been found in regional water supplies before, including in a groundwater source near the Williamtown RAAF Base, in raw water at Bathurst in 2017 and 2020 and in six bores at Dubbo, two of which have since been taken offline.
The Cascade Water Plant is being upgraded to filter PFAS. (Supplied: NSW Government)
Dr Chartres noted that metropolitan areas should not have greater access to information compared to the regions.
"From a public health perspective, it should be equitable," he said.
"There's a huge disparity in terms of the health effects from chemical exposures from those that are of a higher socio-economic and also a high health status and those that aren't."
Both Dr Wright and Dr Chartres want an enforceable code of practice on a Commonwealth or state level, like in the US.
They suggested information should be made public through an easily accessible database.
A Local Government NSW submission to a NSW parliamentary inquiry into PFAS in water sources beginning today requested assistance for cash-strapped local water utilities to conduct regular testing and remediate.