Evolving interest in PFAS

The presence of PFAS chemicals in Australia has come under increasing scrutiny, since the US EPA decided earlier this year, to set a very strict standard for exposure levels in drinking water.

PFAS substances have been manufactured by US-based chemical companies such as 3M for more than half a century, and have found their way into a large array of everyday products. These chemicals help make these products resistant to heat, oil and water. For decades, these man-made chemicals have been used in products like sunscreen, non-stick cookware, makeup, paint, cleaning products, food packaging, and in fire-fighting foams.

Because the chemicals are hard to break down, they can now be found in environments everywhere – PFAS molecules have been detected all over the world, in wildlife, even in Antarctica. They can make their way into raw water supplies. Governments world-wide have moved to ban use of the chemicals.

Last year, PFOA and PFOS were categorised as carcinogenic and possibly carcinogenic to humans respectively. Earlier this year the US EPA set extremely strict limits for PFAS in treated drinking water, even lower than other developed countries such as Germany, the UK, Canada and Japan. Water authorities in the US have been given three years to begin monitoring for PFAS, and must meet the new limits within five years.

This has led to media probing on why Australia’s drinking water limits are slightly less strict than America’s. Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council is currently reviewing the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines on PFAS, and will release draft new PFAS guideline values soon.

Federal Parliamentary Inquiry

A federal Inquiry into wide ranging aspects of PFAS has been established, chaired by Senator Lidia Thorpe. The Select Committee on PFAS will include an initial public hearing on 13 November 2024, receive submissions until 19 December 2024, and must report findings by 5 August 2025.

A holistic Australian Inquiry should be valuable. The Terms of Reference cover broad aspects including measuring PFAS contamination, regulation, technical management of PFAS, remediation and disposal, community impacts, risk assessments and the phasing out of these harmful substances. Water, soil, food and environmental contamination are all within scope. We welcome the focus on source control – stopping these chemicals entering Australia in the first place, will help limit their prevalence. Global evidence continues to highlight the efficacy of source control in lowering the risk of exposure.

This will be a good chance for the water sector to highlight the rigorous and extensive testing protocols in place, for a wide range of chemicals and microbes, to ensure safe drinking water. Testing involves specialised processes under close regulatory supervision. Drinking water is often ‘under the radar’ or taken for granted. This demonstrates that most Australian water supplies have very high water quality compliance – and swift action being taken if issues are detected.  

The Inquiry may also highlight the best ways to address the overall PFAS challenge, across the spectrum of products and areas it has impacted. It may also lead to better understanding of how consumers can best reduce impacts from PFAS in their lives. The community will value seeing action to identify and address other sources of ingestion like cookware, foodstuffs and takeaway packaging, alongside the water sector playing its part in keeping PFAS within drinking water guidelines.

NSW Inquiry 

A parliamentary inquiry has also been established in NSW. The Select Committee on PFAS contamination in waterways and drinking water supplies throughout NSW will be chaired by NSW Greens MP and water spokesperson Cate Faehrmann, with a cross-party committee.  

This inquiry has a lot of common ground with the federal Inquiry, however it is solely focused on water. It will look at how taking impacted water supplies offline, impacts water security. A timeline of hearings and submissions is not yet available. The inquiry must report its findings by 20 June 2025. 

Glimpses from the US

PFAS has also been high profile in America. Key companies that produced PFAS chemicals, including 3M and Dupont, will pay billions of dollars in lawsuits to help fund testing and treatment in public US water systems. (A group of US water utilities have brought a lawsuit against the US EPA, alleging that it did not follow procedural requirements in setting the current limits.)

The context in the US is somewhat different to Australia – with a more extensive history of production and manufacturing, that has contributed to greater levels of PFAS pollution of water sources. Australia’s drinking water catchments are often located in more protected areas, or water is treated with advanced filtration processes such as reverse osmosis in desalination plants.

The increasing focus on PFAS chemicals in Australia makes it even more important for the water industry to continue to provide information to its customers on the extensive measures in place to maintain its very high standards for safe drinking water across the country. Providing safe drinking water has always been the highest priority for our members and the industry. We need to keep working hard to ensure the public is aware of this too, and WSAA will continue to ensure resources and support are available to help members in this task.

Evidence presented recently at the CleanUp 2024 Conference, shows that source control has been effective in helping reduce concentrations of PFAS chemicals in recent years.

It is recognised that nearly all people everywhere today will have very small amounts of PFAS in their bodies, that have accumulated over their lifetime because the substances are prevalent in so many everyday products. Dr Rosa Gwinn of AECOM, USA, presented work by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which evidences that the concentration of key PFAS chemicals in the blood of participants has been decreasing over recent years:

26 Sep 2024

Danielle Francis

danielle.francis@wsaa.asn.au