Chemical probe in pipeline amid clean water pressure
Residents in a tourist hotspot are awaiting the latest in a string of probes on cancer-causing chemicals in their water supply.
PFAS, known as per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are a group of 15,000 highly toxic, synthetic chemicals resistant to heat, stains and grease, dubbed "forever chemicals" because of their inability to break down.
High-level contamination was detected in the drinking water catchment serving 30,000 people in the Blue Mountains in NSW in mid-2024.
PFAS levels were found to be about 300 times higher than Sydney's main drinking water source but they still met Australian guidelines for safe drinking water.
A WaterNSW investigation into Blue Mountains drinking water is set to be released on Friday.
John Dee, a veteran environmental activist who started the Stop PFAS group, has urged the buck-passing between various agencies such as Sydney Water, the NSW Environmental Protection Authority and WaterNSW to stop.
"It's been shown that Sydney Water and WaterNSW have not been fully transparent with the PFAS testing of our local drinking water, "he told AAP.
"You almost have to drag the information out of them before you find out what's really going on.
"It's deliberately avoiding uncomfortable truths about the true state of water health in the Blue Mountains."
He has called for a single, independent statewide authority with comprehensive responsibility for overseeing PFAS contamination management and removal.
The identification of the chemicals prompted calls for free community testing to give insight into the potential health effects of exposure and a parliamentary inquiry has been set up delving into statewide contamination risks.
Exposure to PFAS increases risk of testicular and kidney cancer, impacting the immune system and developmental damage in children.
The National Health and Medical Research Council drafted new drinking water guidelines in October, reducing the benchmark for the PFOA group of chemicals from 560 to 200 nanograms per litre based on cancer-causing effects.
One nanogram is about one drop in 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
WaterNSW said in January that water testing results from monitoring of PFAS in the Greater Sydney catchment "continue to show trace levels in untreated, raw source water supplied from Blue Mountains dams".
It carried out more than 250 water, soil and sediment samples at 37 sites in March around the Blue Mountains taking samples along water drainage lines, creek lines and reservoirs in the catchment.
After community pressure Sydney Water installed a $3.4 million mobile PFAS treatment plant, which treats four megalitres of water daily, at the Blue Mountains catchment in January.
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