A community in regional New South Wales is being offered free bottled water after dangerous levels of “forever chemicals” were discovered in a bore water supply.
The high levels of PFAS were found to exceed current Australian drinking water guidelines after tests conducted by NSW Health of a supply at Warialda, New England.
The township, about 200 kilometres north of Tamworth, is home to approximately 1,400 people.
The discovery followed the temporary closure of a Blue Mountains dam in August after tests detected elevated levels of PFAS chemicals in untreated water.
Regional water suppliers were offered tests as a result of the July investigation, which indicated PFAS at a water filtration plant that supplies water to at least 41,000 homes in the upper Blue Mountains.
Gwydir Shire council on Tuesday confirmed excess PFAS levels had been found in the area’s north reservoir and said it was “urgently investigating the bores and possible sources”.
“Council will test all of the bores that feed reservoirs to try to identify the source of PFAS,” it said. “If a single bore is the source of contamination, then that bore could be isolated from supplying the reservoir.”
NSW Health, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, and the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) were working to investigate solutions, council confirmed.
PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are sometimes called “forever chemicals” because they can take more than 1,000 years to degrade in the environment, and several years to be broken down in the body.
Exposure to the substances, which are used to make products that resist heat, stains, grease and water – such as cleaning products and non-stick cookware – have been linked to high cholesterol, increased levels of uric acid, reduced kidney and immune function and altered hormone levels.
NSW Health advised that continuing to drink the water in Warialda was “unlikely to pose a health risk for residents” in the short term, and remained safe for showering, washing dishes and laundry.
But it confirmed free bottled water would be provided by Hunter New England Population Health in coming days for those who preferred to use it for drinking and cooking as the investigation continued.
