What is Defence doing about the PFAS found in Richmond's waterways?

The PFAS contamination came from the use of legacy firefighting foam at the Base, phased-out in 2004.

A Department of Defence and AECOM report on the investigation released on Thursday, June 14 identified five sites on the RAAF Base as source areas for the plume.

All major on-site drainage systems were found to contain levels of PFAS above the reporting limit for drinking and detections were also found at locations where surface water discharges from the site, including tributaries to Rickabys Creek and Bakers Lagoon.

Defence hosted a walk-in session for community members at Hawkesbury Central Library, where it explained the findings.

Luke McLeod, assistant secretary PFAS Investigation and Management, said there was no evidence of locals using the contaminated groundwater for drinking, and use of groundwater for watering stock and irrigation was found to be limited.

He said over 150 residents answered a community water use survey, and none were using bore water as their main source for drinking.

“It’s a good result from the point-of-view of human health,” he told the Gazette.

“More broadly, we’re not finding significant levels of contamination throughout the investigation area.”

Rickabys Creek and Bakers Lagoon were found to have PFAS levels above guidelines for recreational water use - a guidance Mr McLeod said was designed to cover the incidental ingestion of water during recreational activities like swimming - however he also said these guidelines were designed to be “highly protective” of human health.

He advised locals using these waterways should “take sensible precaution”, but he said there had been no need for Defence to issue any official advisories.

“Unless they were using it every day and swimming or recreating in it for reasonable periods of time such that they were incidentally ingesting over 200mL, then I would just say take sensible precaution - try not to drink significant mouthfuls of the water - but also not to be concerned about the health impact of doing so,” he said.

Samples from the Hawkesbury River, a farm dam, and drains close to the Base and Rickabys Creek, found PFAS concentration below the health-based guidance for recreational use.

Richmond is one of almost 100 military sites across Australia that are being investigated by authorities for elevated levels of PFAS. This includes Williamtown in the Hunter Region of NSW, where Fairfax Media previously reported over 50 cancer cases had been identified over a 15-year period on a road near the Williamtown air base.

A Fairfax Media investigation revealed over the weekend that at least 21 children at a US high school have battled cancer through their school years, or shortly after, while growing up in a city whose water supply was contaminated with PFAS.

The Department of Health in Australia maintains there is no consistent evidence the toxins cause “important” health effects, while the US EPA has concluded they are a human health hazard that - at high enough levels - may cause immune dysfunction, reproductive issues and certain types of cancer in humans.

When asked to compare Hawkesbury’s situation to that of Williamtown, Mr McLeod said the sites differ in terms of their hydroecology and hydrogeology and the way residents use the water.

“What we know about Williamtown is there is a lot more residents in the investigation area that relied on bore water for drinking purposes, and it’s got a very high water table, so there is a continual interaction with water at Williamtown,” he said.

“So from our perspective with the RAAF Richmond investigation – and for the residents of the Hawkesbury area – they can feel confident that they’re certainly not in the same position as those residents in the Williamtown area.”

He said residents in Williamtown found to be drinking bore water that was above the health-based guidance value were provided with alternative water supplies. He said Defence would do the same for any Hawkesbury residents found to be in the same boat, ”But that’s not the case here.”

When asked about the new firefighting product used at RAAF Richmond, Mr McLeod said it does contains the PFAS chemical, but “not as an active ingredient”.

“What that means is that there are very small elements of trace elements in these chemicals, but they're certainly in much, much lower volumes than what existed in the previous product which we phased out in 2004,” he said.

“Across the Department of Defence we phased out the use of the particular foam we were using at the time which really had these chemicals in high concentrations.”

Federal Member for Macquarie Susan Templeman said the presence of PFAS was still a concern. 

“A key concern about the levels of PFAS on and around Richmond RAAF Base is why they are still quite high if use of the chemicals ceased?” she said in a prepared statement.

“Labor asked the Defence Minister twice in 2017 whether PFAS was still in use on Defence bases in Australia – first in March and again in May. 

“The Department of Defence confirmed its use of Ansulite – a fire fighting foam containing trace amounts of PFAS – because it met military specifications.

“Even a trace amount of the chemical in current fire fighting foam stocks would mean it’s still being used.”

A prepared statement from The Greens called on the Federal Government to commit to an immediate clean-up to protect the Hawkesbury River and the area’s agriculture.

Greens NSW MP Senator Lee Rhiannon said: “The Government should immediately offer free blood tests, medical advice and counselling if required to impacted locals and base workers.”  

Hawkesbury Greens Councillor Danielle Wheeler, said: “This toxic contamination is a serious set-back for our region. Council was briefed in February by Defence and told we had nothing to worry about. Clearly that is not the case.”

She said these are long-lasting chemicals that persist in the environment and in humans: “We are just really lucky that the contamination occurred in an area where no one is likely to drink the water. Fishers should be particularly concerned.”

The findings released at the recent Hawkesbury community briefing came from the Detailed Site Investigation (DSI) stage of the Richmond RAAF investigation, which involved sampling and laboratory analysis of groundwater, surface water, soil and sediment to better understand how PFAS moves on the Base and in the surrounding area, Defence said.

Sampling involved 89 groundwater samples from new and existing groundwater monitoring wells, analysing 49 soil samples, and analysing 37 surface water samples and 36 sediment samples.

The area to be studied in and around the RAAF – called the investigation area – was identified from a review of information on environmental conditions in the area including topography, surface water drainage, hydrogeology and land use.

The next steps in the investigation will be the Human Risk Assessment (HHRA) and Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA), and PFAS Management Area Plan (PMAP).

This will assess potential exposure to PFAS from contact with skin, incidental ingestion of water and recreational use of affected water; potential for bioaccumulation in livestock, poultry, fish and other aquatic organisms; and potential exposure via ingestion of fish caught within the affected area, and fruit and vegetables grown within the area.

Community briefings on the results of these assessments will be held later in the year.

Mr McLeod said beyond this, Defence will look at management and remediation of PFAS travelling outside of the current investigation’s target area, to mitigate the impact of the chemical on the broader Hawkesbury community.

Defence began its environmental investigation into the presence of PFAS contamination on and around RAAF Base Richmond in 2016.

Mr McLeod advised anyone living in the investigation area who uses bore water as their primary drinking source and hasn’t yet been contacted by Defence, should call the community hotline on 1800 789 291.