NSW Health has offered to help Upper Hunter council's test their town water supplies for PFAS amid growing concerns about the long-term impacts of forever chemicals.
Singleton, Muswellbrook and Upper Hunter Council are among hundreds of regional councils, which are responsible for supplying drinking water to their residents.
Unlike major water utilities such as Hunter Water, they do not have the resources to test for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances.
NSW Health is offering to help bridge the gap by paying for PFAS testing.
"We understand PFAS testing can be expensive, this is why NSW Health is offering to help by arranging for testing," a spokesperson said.
Singleton mayor Sue Moore said that, while PFAS had not previously been raised as a concern in the community, council staff were in talks with Hunter New England Health about having the shire's water tested.
Upper Hunter MP Dave Layzell said centralised PFAS testing would result in significant economies of scale and should be fully funded by the government.
"Residents and water rate payers are already feeling cost of living pressures so I wouldn't like to see additional costs being charged to them as it would unfairly impact regional residents a lot more. Water testing should be something that is performed by a State Authority level and the costs covered by the State Government," he said.
The offer to assist councils test for PFAS follows a warning from scientists about a "knowledge gap" and lack of accountability over the scale and nature of PFAS-contaminated water across NSW.
The US Environmental Protection Agency recently said there was "no safe level of exposure" to the PFAS chemicals in drinking water.
It has subsequently cut the maximum level of the maximum allowed in its drinking water.
Experts have called for similar regulations to be rolled out in Australia, where the chemicals are permitted at levels up to 140 times higher than those allowed in the US.
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the government agency responsible for the guidelines around safe drinking water standards in Australia is currently reviewing its 2018 PFAS drinking water guidelines.
Public consultation is expected to start in October 2024, and the final guidelines are expected to be released in April 2025.
If Australian standards are tightened in line with the US, water utilities will be required to invest significantly more resources into PFAS screening and removal. This, in turn, is likely to be passed onto consumers' water bills.
A Hunter Water spokesman said the utility took pride in its management of the Lower Hunter's 'catchment-to-tap' water supply, which met the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines of a maximum limit of 0.07 micrograms per litre.
"Hunter Water has an extensive water quality monitoring program that includes analysis for PFAS. Hunter Water routinely tests for PFAS in all our drinking water supply zones, and reports all detections over 0.002 micrograms per litre, which is our independent laboratory's limit of reporting," the spokesman said.
"The testing program confirms that drinking water supplied by Hunter Water is safe and meets the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines."
Water quality monitoring results are summarised and publicly available on the Hunter Water website.
Authorities say water in the Blue Mountains remains safe after independent testing allegedly found synthetic PFAS chemicals 50 times higher than Australian drinking water standards.
Independent tests found the highest ever recorded levels of the cancer-causing "forever chemicals" in Adams Creek, feeding into Medlow Dam, and Greaves Creek - beneath the dam.
Water NSW shut off a pipeline connecting Medlow Dam and Greaves Creek Dam on August 28, after government tests found 0.09 microgram per litre of PFAS, slightly above Australian guidelines of 0.07.
In addition to water, PFAS chemicals are found in everyday appliances from non-stick pans to clothing, insecticides and food packaging.
