Sydney Water did not perform “an appropriate level of due diligence” before claiming there were no known Pfas hotspots within its drinking water catchments, a state parliamentary committee has found.
The New South Wales upper house committee tabled its 16 findings and 32 recommendations on Thursday following an inquiry triggered by reporting in the Sydney Morning Herald that detected elevated levels of some “forever chemicals” in parts of Sydney’s drinking water catchment.
Pfas (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), a group of several thousand synthetic compounds, are found in a wide variety of products including waterproof fabrics, food packaging, hygiene products and firefighting foam. They are sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals” because they are slow to break down and persist in the environment for extended periods.
Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann, the committee’s chair, said there was “general agreement among committee members that more attention needs to be given by the government to the rapidly evolving issue of Pfas contamination of our waterways”.
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“This report contains strong recommendations to assist the government in this challenging work and I encourage them to give the utmost consideration to all of them,” she said.
The committee said it was concerned that a statement by Sydney Water in June last year that there were “no known Pfas hotspots” in its drinking water catchments was made “in the absence of a rigorous and proactive program of regular monitoring, testing and reporting”.
The report said this was evidenced in subsequent testing in the Blue Mountains that found elevated levels of some types of Pfas in untreated water, including at Medlow Dam.
Last year, WaterNSW shut down the small Medlow and Greaves Creek dams after tests detected the elevated levels in untreated water.
“Members of the Blue Mountains community made it very clear to the committee that they felt let down by Sydney Water,” Faehrmann said.
The committee also found there was a lack of effective collaboration between federal government agencies, including the department of defence, and the state government in managing Pfas contamination.
In further findings, the committee said the identification of Pfas bioaccumulation in wildlife, including fish, in the vicinity of Williamtown in 2016 should have triggered “proactive testing for Pfas in waterways and drinking water across New South Wales”.
It also found the state’s Environment Protection Authority (EPA) did not act in line with the precautionary principle when it failed to erect signs along the Belubula River after the discovery of Pfas contamination to warn against swimming and fishing until testing was completed.
Among its recommendations, the committee said the state government should ensure regular testing for Pfas in water across NSW, that it should call on the federal government to regularly review the available evidence on Pfas in the Australian Water Drinking Guidelines, and government agencies should support communities and community members seeking information on Pfas.
The report also called on the government to support blood testing of willing Blue Mountains residents to “determine whether Pfas concentrations are higher in the blood of Blue Mountains community members” compared to the general population.
Prof Stuart Khan, the head of the University of Sydney’s School of Civil Engineering, said the findings and recommendations of the inquiry suggested the implementation of Australia’s drinking water guidelines by the responsible agencies was lacking.
“It’s almost like Sydney Water and WaterNSW have forgotten that it is a risk management framework – they have to be proactive in implementing it,” he said.
He called on the government to “comprehensively review” the understanding and implementation of drinking water guidelines across the water sector.
The government noted the report and said it would respond within the three months required by the parliament. A spokesperson thanked the committee for their work, and community members who shared their views and expertise.
The spokesperson said whole-of-government work was under way to respond to and manage the impacts of Pfas contamination and “work dealing with this legacy contaminant is ongoing”, which included an assessment by the EPA of more than 1,100 legacy sites.
“As announced in June, all NSW public drinking water supplies – across metropolitan and regional areas – currently meet the updated Australian Drinking Water Guidelines,” they said.
“We recognise there is community concern about PFAS levels in water, and we are committed to continuously improving our approach in line with national guidelines and the latest evidence.”
Additional reporting by Donna Lu
