Hunter and Sydney water utilities have insisted that tap water in the cities is safe to drink despite probable cancer-causing "forever chemicals" being found at levels exceeding overseas standards.
An Australian-first study of the chemicals found in the livers of eight dead platypuses collected from areas along the East Coast found that of all the animals, those found in the Hunter River at Morpeth contained the highest levels of PFOS, up to 1200 micrograms per kilogram.
