‘Indestructible’: Chilling tap water warning

Experts have sounded the alarm over concerning discoveries in Aussie drinking water, and made a startling admission.

Aussies are being urged to take urgent action to protect themselves from cancer-causing “forever” chemicals that have been detected in drinking water.

This week it was revealed the chemicals were detected in several drinking catchments which serve millions of Australians — at levels deemed unacceptable in other parts of the world.

Sydney Water confirmed for the first time on its website that PFAS chemicals were detected in June at low levels in key water filtration plants around the city — following on from similar discoveries in drinking water around the nation.

Although the concentrations of PFAS in the samples were often very small, the US Environmental Protection Agency has recently found there is no safe level of PFAS in drinking water. The Australian government guidelines state there is a safe level of exposure.

Suzanne Dodds — who is the founder and managing director of water filtration companies Complete Home Filtration and Environmental Water Solutions — told news.com.au the findings were “not surprising” given how widely the chemicals are being used in everyday objects.

“This has been happening for a long time,” she said. “With the recent media attention, it’s only now that authorities are testing for it and we’re all hearing about it.”

She said Aussies have been exposed to PFAS for decades and that the chemicals have been shown to contribute to a number of health problems from low birth weights to infertility.

“PFAS are bio cumulative and so the reason they are so dangerous is that the toxicity builds up and it’s very hard for your body to expel them,” she said. “They’re basically indestructible.”

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’Forever chemicals’ have been detected in water samples.

In a concerning admission she said there was not yet a simple solution for Australians wanting to protect themselves — adding that bottled water also contains PFAS.

However, she recommended Aussies look into getting a reverse osmosis unit to filter the water coming into your home. She said this is currently the best tech to remove PFAS from your water. They require adequate water pressure in the pipes, so they may not be an option in homes with low water pressure.

Water filters can vary in price from as little as $20 to more than $1000.

You can also use granular activated carbon (GAC) filter — an affordable option that is easily available, but their effectiveness can be highly variable. A study by Duke and North Carolina State universities found some brands of GAC filters completely remove forever chemicals, while others made no difference at all.

Ms Dodd said no one has yet developed a PFAS water filtration system that can affordably and efficiently reduce PFAS to a healthy level across the whole home.

She is on a mission to change that and has been given both federal and state government funding in WA to develop proprietary filtration technology, a world-first PFAS chemical filtration system that protects people from exposure. She hopes it can be rolled out to homes across Australia in the not-too-distant future.

‘There is actually no safe level’

Following the discoveries of PFAS, experts have issued a scathing assessment of the guidelines in place for Australia’s drinking water quality.

International Pollutants Elimination Network senior policy adviser Dr Mariann Lloyd-Smith said Australia is falling behind other countries in drinking water safety.

Even in the US, the laws are far more restrictive than Australia’s.

“Australian standards … are out of date, out of touch and totally are not usable for protecting human health,” Dr Lloyd-Smith told ABC radio.

“We really do need to move on these chemicals quickly. And particularly when it’s in drinking water, something that everybody has to consume. It just is totally unacceptable.”

The University of Sydney medicine and health faculty’s Nick Chartres said PFAS are “the most mobile, persistent and toxic chemicals in the world”.

“We know that they can get into the Arctic ice caps, they can get into the ice in Antarctica, they get into the deep-sea floor soil sediment. They basically travel everywhere,” Dr Chartres said.

He said the US Environmental Protection Agency found “based on the best available evidence that we have … there is actually no safe level (of exposure to PFAS)”.

“So if you get exposed across a lifetime, at any level, your risk of these diseases starts going up incrementally based on the level of exposure,” Dr Chartres said.

A map showing PFAS chemical contamination in Australia. Picture: Australiamap.net

He said that the US law change should be a wake-up call for Australia.

“We now have to look to that and say, how do our standards (compare)? … And if there’s any type of divergence with the Australian (laws), why is there a divergence?”

In the US, the maximum level allowed for PFOA and another variant, PFOS, in drinking water is four parts per trillion.

However, in Australia, PFOS and PFHxS – yet another PFAS variant – are allowed up to a level of 70 parts per trillion.

“And for PFOA, which is so much more toxic, we’ve set a level of 560 (parts per trillion),” Dr Lloyd-Smith said.

She warned against buying bottled water to use instead of tap water, though.

“We’ve found PFAS in bottled water too, so that’s not the solution,” she said.

Dr Lloyd-Smith said people should try to reduce their exposure to PFAS beyond its presence in drinking water.

She said people should check labels and read the ingredients in the make-up products they use.

People should also research how their clothes, food and food packaging are made, and what chemicals they could contain.

“Australia must … assess (PFAS) as a class and aim to restrict and eliminate all uses of PFAS,” Dr Lloyd-Smith said.

Where the chemicals were found

The warnings come as PFAS were found in key filtration sites around Sydney including Warragamba, Prospect Reservoir and Orchard Hills.

Orchard Hills serves roughly 200,000 people in greater Penrith, including St Marys, Emu Plains and the Lower Blue Mountains.

The Prospect Reservoir is used as one of three main supplies for Prospect Water Filtration Plant, supplying 80 per cent of Greater Sydney’s drinking water to four million people.

Concerningly, PFAS chemicals were also detected in higher levels at the Cascade Dam in the Blue Mountains and North Richmond, 70km northwest of the CBD.

Publicly available data shows since 2010 drinking water in the Sydney suburbs of Blacktown, Campbeltown, Emu Plains, Liverpool, North Richmond and Quakers Hill have had the chemicals.

The chemicals were also found in tap water in Canberra, Footscray in Melbourne, Adelaide, the regional Queensland cities of Cairns and Gladstone, Kingborough in Hobart, and Darwin.

Sydney Water’s monitoring in the catchment found no detectable levels of PFAS in water filtration plants in Macarthur, Nepean, the Illawarra or the Woronora River.

The chemicals were detected at a level that meets Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG) but are over what the United States now deems safe to drink.

Analysis by The Sydney Morning Herald showed the chemicals were found in the drinking water of up to 1.8 million Australians since 2010, including in Canberra, Queensland, parts of Sydney, Newcastle and Victoria.

Those particular chemicals are “forever chemical” pollutants; perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which have been linked to cancers in young people and firefighters.

The chemicals became ubiquitous since development in the 1940s, making jackets waterproof, carpets stain-resistant, frying pans non-stick and were used in firefighting foam.

University of Western Sydney water pollution expert Ian Wright told the Herald: “I expect that these results will be quite confronting to many people. “This also contradicts statements made by the authorities that there is no PFAS risk in the catchment. Without any doubt, further regular testing is needed and needs to be publicly reported.”

In 2023, manufacturing multinational 3M reached a $10.3 billion settlement with US public water bodies in the face of more than 4000 lawsuits filed against 3M and other chemical companies.

They are forever chemicals because in effect they do not break down and accumulate in the human body.

The World Health Organisation deems PFOA as carcinogenic to humans and PFOS as possibly carcinogenic to humans and connected the forever chemicals to increased cholesterol, immune system suppression, hormone interference and developmental issues in children.

A Sydney Morning Herald report in June exposed a gap in Australia-wide testing for these chemicals, as the last widespread study came in 2011.

University of Queensland research found the chemicals in about half of its samples taken from cities and regions.

PFAS chemicals were detected in June at low levels in key water filtration plants, including Warragamba.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said the US had changed its water tolerance, and his state was examining those changes.

“I just want to make the point, particularly for Sydney metropolitan area, we’ve got a defined area in terms of our catchment for Sydney’s water, and as a result it’s generally regarded as very good when it comes to contaminants and the drinkability,” he said.

“I wouldn’t jump the gun, obviously we’re examining those US studies and want to apply the best practice … but the latest advice I have is Sydney’s water is good.”

Sydney Water spokeswoman told news.com.au: “Sydney Water is required to meet the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG), and all samples tested are well below these guidelines.

“Monitoring of drinking water uses a risk-based approach, and Sydney Water regularly tests for PFAS, including monthly monitoring, in potentially impacted areas.

“There is regular consultation between Sydney Water, WaterNSW and NSW Health to assess any potential risk of PFAS or any other contaminant to Sydney’s drinking supply.”

— with NCA NewsWire

Originally published as ‘Indestructible’: Chilling tap water warning