Property owners of land contaminated by a toxic firefighting chemical are still years away from receiving a fresh water supply, but say they are progressing towards the end of what will be a decade-long saga.
The semi-rural suburb of Bullsbrook, about 40 minutes north of Perth, is home to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Pearce air base.
Decades of firefighting drills in the past by the Australian Defence Force have seen the chemical, called Per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances or PFAS, leach into the soil around the base.
Bullsbrook Residents and Ratepayers Association president, Anne Janes, said many people in the area drank bore water from their properties in the past.
"It's caused great problems for the people to actually think that they might have a dangerous carcinogenic chemical in their drinking water."
Plans underway to supply fresh water
The government has announced it plans to provide residents with fresh water through about 15 kilometres of pipe.
It is a relief for many locals, including Kyra Burns, who has lived in Bullsbrook for more than two decades.
"We're still looking at about two to three years away which, while still seems a long way down the track, is the light at the end of the tunnel, which I don't think we've previously had."
The Department of Defence hopes to complete water connections to households by the end of 2025.
For some households like Ms Burns', it meant continuing to drink from plastic bottles.
"It's another $2,000 a year I'm going to have to spend ... on providing my own water," she said.
"It's just tiring. But, like I said, I think we can see a way forward now."
Some residents have been provided bottled water by the government, but not every property owner was eligible for the scheme, according to Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel Matt Keogh, who attended a community walk-in session on Friday morning.
"This was an important session for us to hear directly from the community about their ongoing concerns with PFAS," he said.
Mr Keogh and the Department of Defence said they would consider concerns raised by the community, but could not commit to providing water for residents like Ms Burns in the interim, while the water connections were being made.
"We'll go back and consider these concerns about what we can do in the meantime until their homes are connected."
The 'forever chemical' that accumulates in human bodies
PFAS do not break down and can accumulate in soil, in water, and even in human bodies, which is why the Australian Department of Health recommends minimising exposure.
Bullsbrook resident Reannan Haswell has lived with the consequences of accumulating PFAS around her property for years, and is the lead applicant of an ongoing class action lawsuit against the Australian Government.
"It's a lifetime chemical. It's a forever chemical. There is no way to retrieve it and remove it once it's out," she said.
"We've been on bottled water for god knows how long now."
Nationwide class action underway
Property owners are in the process of suing the government for the impact PFAS has had on properties, land values, and livelihoods in the area.
It's part of one of Australia's largest ever class actions, filed by Shine Lawyers, which is still actively seeking registrations from property owners in contamination sites across the country.
It includes locations in Adelaide, Darwin, Melbourne, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Bullsbrook in Western Australia.
Ms Haswell said the government's proposed water infrastructure plan would mean property owners may begin seeing water bills they've never had.
"We all bought out there on the premise that the water we were living on was bore," she said.
"No one should have to pay for it. It's not our stuff up."
"The Australian government contaminated our water ... I think the better option would be to make sure that fellow people in our community don't actually have to pay for water. Full stop."
The government has maintained PFAS exposure "has not been shown to cause disease in humans", and is "unlikely to be important to health outcomes", which contradicts some international opinion.
The US Government claims high exposure to certain PFAS may lead to adverse health outcomes including decreased fertility, developmental effects in children, and increased risk of some cancers.
