Latest news with #JonDee
Sydney Morning Herald
11-08-2025
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
PFAS: New forever chemicals found in Sydney Water
In 2018, Buckley chaired the expert health panel for PFAS for the Australian government. He told the webinar he had looked over the state of research since then, and 'not much' had changed. Loading Dr Nicholas Chartres, a senior research fellow in the school of pharmacy at the University of Sydney, told this masthead it would have been most appropriate for the NSW Health webinar to present the findings of the US Environmental Protection Agency and NASEM reviews alongside the IARC evaluations. 'Government advice should not rely on individual experts, but rather rigorous, transparent reviews that reflect the most current science, when available,' he said. NASEM took a similar approach to the Australian panel in 2018, Chartres said, but was more rigorous and up to date, taking in the 139 human studies that had been published since then. A NSW Health spokesperson said it had convened an expert panel to report to the chief health officer on a range of clinical matters relating to PFAS. The webinar was to support local clinicians to provide information and give them a chance to share case studies and ask questions, the spokesperson said. STOP PFAS convener Jon Dee in Leura. Credit: Sitthixay Ditthavong Jon Dee, from Blue Mountains community group STOP PFAS, said: 'The PFAS in our drinking water was an Erin Brockovich-level contamination, yet NSW Health is downplaying this and ignoring a huge amount of international evidence about PFAS health risks.' Blood donations Buckley told the webinar about a third of PFAS in a human body would be in the blood stream, and if individuals were concerned about their PFAS levels and wanted to be proactive in lowering it, they could consider donating blood. 'You'd be getting rid of 3 per cent of your PFAS in your body every time you gave 500ml of blood,' Buckley said. Loading 'If you quietly said 'you're welcome to give blood and you will get rid of 3 per cent of the PFAS in your body every time you give blood', I actually think it's not a bad idea.' A randomised clinical trial of 285 Victorian firefighters in 2019 found donating blood lowered PFAS levels, while the PFAS Health Study at the Australian National University has identified menstruation as one of the reasons why PFAS levels are lower in Australian women than men at population level. Jones told the webinar she disagreed with blood donation to lower PFAS because it could cause persistent anaemia and there was 'no proven causality between PFASes and adverse health effects'. Buckley responded that it was 'a futile exercise in getting rid of PFAS at one level – you're not expecting health benefits', but as long as it was in the guidelines for blood donation, he did not see any huge problems with it. Sydney tap water Residents in the Blue Mountains have been exposed to high levels of PFAS, especially PFOS from firefighting foam, in drinking water for at least 17 years and possibly up to 32 years. Water with PFAS levels above safe limits had been supplying 78,000 residents from Mount Victoria to Glenbrook, according to Sydney Water, until the pipeline to a contaminated dam was disconnected last year. Last week, the NSW Environment Protection Authority put out a warning that people should limit their consumption of fish from Wentworth Falls Lake to one serve of redfin perch per week and all other fish species to two serves a week because of the results of testing of surface water and fish for PFAS. Peter Morse, a master fly casting instructor, was out at Wentworth Falls Lake on Monday honing his skills. He said he never catches fish in the lake mainly because of concerns about urban run-off from nearby houses, but noted the lake was stocked with trout annually and they were always fished out by the end of the season. 'It's a popular spot for kids in the mountains to go fishing, and I suspect if they catch a trout, they're going to take it home for mum to cook,' Morse said. On Tuesday, it emerged that University of NSW researchers have found a total of 31 PFAS types in Sydney tap water, including one never before found in tap water anywhere in the world, publishing their findings in the journal Chemosphere overnight. The samples were analysed per drinking water catchment and found to be highest around North Richmond, with potential contamination from the air base. The detected PFAS included 3:3 FTCA, thought to be only the second global detection in any drinking water supply, and 6:2 diPAP, previously found in bottled water and now detected in tap water for the first time. Lead researcher Professor William Alexander Donald said the health effects of 3:3 FTCA were unknown, but there was some evidence to suggest that 6:2 diPAP caused thyroid and reproductive issues. PFOS was found at 6 parts per trillion (ppt), which is 2 ppt below Australian drinking water guidelines of 8 ppt, but higher than the Trump-era US EPA's advisory limit of 4 ppt. Donald said one of the most interesting findings was that Sydney tap water had high levels of PFBA, a short-chain PFAS that is being used as a replacement for the banned substances, PFOS and PFOA. 'It's more mobile in the environment, so it shouldn't persist as long, but across all the samples it has the highest average concentration,' Donald said. 'It shows this idea that you can make tweaks to these chemicals to get around using the banned substances, but then … it ends up in our tap water.' The Australian Drinking Water Guidelines from the National Health and Medical Research Council covers five main types of PFAS: PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFBS and GenX chemicals. A Sydney Water spokesperson said drinking water from all nine of its water filtration plants was safe to drink and met the guidelines. Get to the heart of what's happening with climate change and the environment. Sign up for our fortnightly Environment newsletter.
Sydney Morning Herald
18-05-2025
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
Forever chemicals in water report leaves many unanswered questions
The dangers of 'forever chemicals', known as PFAS, have been known for more than a quarter of a century, yet NSW water authorities could not join the dots to protect our water supplies. We now know for certain that some Blue Mountains residents may have been drinking water with elevated levels of the cancer-causing chemical for up to 32 years. Further, authorities disconnected Medlow Dam and Greaves Creek Dam from the water supply only last August after initially claiming there were no 'no known PFAS hotspots in the catchment' in the wake of a damning Herald investigation. Yet concerns about PFAS in firefighting material were voiced in 1998. The world's scientific community has been waving red flags since, and stringent new drinking limits are under consideration in Australia. Now an initial report prepared for WaterNSW by engineering firm Jacobs Group confirmed that the contamination could have occurred as early as 1992 when a petrol tanker crashed on the Great Western Highway near Medlow Bath. The WaterNSW report also suggests a 2002 vehicle crash and the Medlow Bath Rural Fire Brigade Station could be potential sources of the contamination. Loading The findings back up the work of Carrie Fellner, our investigative journalist who has covered the impact of the chemicals for more than 12 years. In August 2024, she reported Sydney Water confirmed forever chemicals had been detected across drinking water supplies. A week or so later, Sydney Water quietly closed a feeder dam in the Blue Mountains. She revealed this month the chemicals had been discovered in the Jamieson Reservoir on Cousins Lane at Leura and the Shipley Reservoir, near Blackheath. Following the initial report, the EPA has recommended a detailed site investigation should be undertaken consistent with the National Environment Protection Measure 1999. While the disconnections remain, NSW Health and Sydney Water have said drinking water in the Blue Mountains meets existing Australian drinking water guidelines and is safe to drink. They give this assurance knowing full well that new drinking water standards are on the horizon that will not be so generous. Jon Dee, convener of the local STOP PFAS action group and a former Australian of the Year for his environmental work including co-founding Planet Ark in the 1990s, said the report left key questions unanswered. 'They still cannot tell us when the PFAS contamination of our drinking water began,' Dee said. 'They still cannot tell us how high the PFAS levels have been in the tap water that we've been drinking. They still can't tell us how long we've been drinking toxic tap water, and yet they insist that our tap water has been safe.'
Sydney Morning Herald
05-05-2025
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
Cancer-linked chemical found at five times safe level in drinking water reservoir
Cancer-linked chemicals have been discovered at five times the incoming safe level in a reservoir used to top up the tap water supply in the upmarket tourist haven of Leura in the Blue Mountains. On Monday, Sydney Water confirmed to the Herald it had drained two drinking water reservoirs in recent weeks after discovering the so-called 'forever chemicals', also known as PFAS, at levels exceeding proposed new safety guidelines. However, the agency moved to reassure customers that drinking water from the reservoirs was 'rarely used', and when it did provide 'very limited supply', it was blended with water from elsewhere, meaning tap water samples were safe. Sydney Water only carried out widespread testing of its reservoirs across the Blue Mountains in April, following demands by community campaigner Jon Dee. The agency has known for nearly 12 months that the region is a contamination hotspot. Dee was shocked to discover on Monday that the testing he called for had taken place and the results had been quietly published on Sydney Water's website. Loading 'I've had to stumble on it myself, nobody has been told,' said Dee, who convenes the local STOP PFAS action group. Dee raised concerns with authorities in March that monitoring did not appear to have taken place in Sydney Water's distribution network, which pipes treated drinking water from filtration plants to a series of storage reservoirs and then onto homes. Dee said the levels in Leura reservoir were alarming and even higher than those that mobilised a multimillion-dollar government response at the nearby Cascade Water Filtration Plant last year.
Sydney Morning Herald
05-05-2025
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
Cancer-linked chemical found at nine times safe level in drinking water reservoir
Cancer-linked chemicals have been discovered at nine times the incoming safe level in a reservoir used to top up the tap water supply in the upmarket tourist haven of Leura in the Blue Mountains. On Monday, Sydney Water confirmed to the Herald it had drained two drinking water reservoirs in recent weeks after discovering the so-called 'forever chemicals', also known as PFAS, at levels exceeding proposed new safety guidelines. However, the agency moved to reassure customers that drinking water from the reservoirs was 'rarely used', and when it did provide 'very limited supply', it was blended with water from elsewhere, meaning tap water samples were safe. Sydney Water only carried out widespread testing of its reservoirs across the Blue Mountains in April, following demands by community campaigner Jon Dee. The agency has known for nearly 12 months that the region is a contamination hotspot. Dee was shocked to discover on Monday that the testing he called for had taken place and the results had been quietly published on Sydney Water's website. Loading 'I've had to stumble on it myself, nobody has been told,' said Dee, who convenes the local STOP PFAS action group. Dee raised concerns with authorities in March that monitoring did not appear to have taken place in Sydney Water's distribution network, which pipes treated drinking water from filtration plants to a series of storage reservoirs and then onto homes. Dee said the levels in Leura reservoir were alarming and even higher than those that mobilised a multimillion-dollar government response at the nearby Cascade Water Filtration Plant last year.
The Age
05-05-2025
- Health
- The Age
Cancer-linked chemical found at nine times safe level in drinking water reservoir
Cancer-linked chemicals have been discovered at nine times the incoming safe level in a reservoir used to top up the tap water supply in the upmarket tourist haven of Leura in the Blue Mountains. On Monday, Sydney Water confirmed to the Herald it had drained two drinking water reservoirs in recent weeks after discovering the so-called 'forever chemicals', also known as PFAS, at levels exceeding proposed new safety guidelines. However, the agency moved to reassure customers that drinking water from the reservoirs was 'rarely used', and when it did provide 'very limited supply', it was blended with water from elsewhere, meaning tap water samples were safe. Sydney Water only carried out widespread testing of its reservoirs across the Blue Mountains in April, following demands by community campaigner Jon Dee. The agency has known for nearly 12 months that the region is a contamination hotspot. Dee was shocked to discover on Monday that the testing he called for had taken place and the results had been quietly published on Sydney Water's website. Loading 'I've had to stumble on it myself, nobody has been told,' said Dee, who convenes the local STOP PFAS action group. Dee raised concerns with authorities in March that monitoring did not appear to have taken place in Sydney Water's distribution network, which pipes treated drinking water from filtration plants to a series of storage reservoirs and then onto homes. Dee said the levels in Leura reservoir were alarming and even higher than those that mobilised a multimillion-dollar government response at the nearby Cascade Water Filtration Plant last year.
