Territory residents demand respect over PFAS scandal questions

Territory residents concerned about the growing PFAS scandal are demanding to be treated with the same respect as those in southern states. But are they being left in the dark?

Concerned fisho Trent de With at Katherine River.

IN Newcastle and Oakey, they call it the “red zone” — the area known to be contaminated by toxic PFAS chemicals.

In Darwin and Katherine, where PFAS contamination came to light only a year ago, it is still known by the Defence Department’s far more dispassionate preferred term, the “investigation zone”.

In Katherine, that zone covers the entire town and stretches south to the Cutta Cutta Caves. In Darwin, it covers the city’s airport and the suburbs of Winnellie, Bagot and the Narrows, as well as parts of Milner and Coconut Grove.

The effects of PFAS compounds on human health is debated.

The Federal Government maintains there is “no consistent evidence” they have an adverse impact.

But they’re also considered “likely carcinogens”. People exposed to high levels of some forms of the compounds have an increased risk of kidney and testicular cancer, and studies in animals have indicated shown chronic exposure leads to development of testicular, pancreatic and liver cancers.

Defence’s Steve Grzeskowiak

Worried residents Alderman Andrew Arthur (R) and Steven Klose at Doctor’s Gully.

What is known is the chemicals are there — in the creeks and the groundwater near Tindal and Darwin RAAF bases. They’ve been found in fish in Katherine River, shellfish in Ludmilla and Rapid creeks and there are real concerns that more are affected.

And without a large and expensive clean up, they will stay. PFAS are “stable” compounds. That means they don’t break down. They remain in the environment and in humans for a long time.

AS a town, Katherine owes much to the river from which it takes its name. It’s the primary source of drinking water and a handful of agricultural and industrial users hold extraction licences.

But the biggest business in Katherine is tourism.

Mayor Fay Miller said every business in Katherine — from the service stations to the grocery stores and everything in between — relied on tourism to make their living.

The tourists come from all over Australia, the Territory and the world, drawn by two things which are inextricably linked — culture and water. Mostly, they drive up the Stuart Hwy on their way to Darwin, and they tend to stay on a few days as they fish for barramundi, kayak in the pristine waters of Nitmiluk Gorge, and swim in the crystal clear hot springs.

But with the town’s name now tarnished by the word PFAS, there are real fears they’ll keep driving.

Signs are being erected along the Katherine River warning people of the potential dangers of eating the fish — a highly visible reminder of the chemical contamination.

Ms Miller spent this week in Canberra, where she pleaded for help from the Federal Government.

She wants cash to spend on a marketing campaign to counteract the damage done to the town’s image by the PFAS saga.

Katherine Rod and Tackle manager Trent de With said businesses were worried about the potential impact on tourism and the flow on effect for satellite industries.

“This town lives on tourism,” he said. “Why come here to fish if you can’t eat the fish?”

Defence spokesman Steven Grzeskowiak this week blamed the media for stirring up panic.

“There is a degree of hyperbole in some of the reporting around this from some quarters; I personally think that’s unhelpful,” he said.

But NT Health Minister Natasha Fyles acknowledged the depth of community concern was very real.

“We’re very frustrated, we feel the community’s frustration,” she said.

“This is the first community in Australia that has had its water at a town level impacted, so we as the NT Government are continually expressing our frustration and there needs to be a sense of urgency (from the Commonwealth).

“Katherine is a very important town. Just because its thousands of kilometres from the east coast it still needs to be treated with the same respect as those communities on the east coast that have been impacted.”

IN fact sheets delivered to residents in the investigation zones, Defence said the contamination was the result of “legacy firefighting foams”.

Foams used now are “more environmentally safe”, the department claims. What the fact sheets didn’t tell residents is that the new foam — called Ansulite — used on Defence bases still contains PFAS chemicals — but at a lower concentration.

Defence is the only remaining user of Ansulite in Australia. Health and environmental concerns led civilian airports to phase it out almost a decade ago.

Because Darwin Airport is a joint civilian-defence operation, Ansulite is still in use at the insistence of Defence.

Firefighting services at Darwin Airport are handled by the Commonwealth Government-controlled authority Airservices Austalia.

One Airservices Australia firefighter told the NT News that in all the clamour and panic around contamination of water sources and fish, the potential impacts on firefighters had been lost.

In the 80s and 90s, fireys were told the substance was “safe as houses”. And they treated it as such. It was sprayed into crowds during parades and used to wet down kids slip and slides at community events. And firefighters were constantly in direct contact with it through training exercises.

The firefighter, who cannot be named because speaking out publicly would be a “sackable offence”, said they feared health repercussions for themselves and for the community.

“When you’ve got whole communities that have trace elements of this in their drinking water and their soil, it’s a horrible, horrible situation and of course we’re going to be pushed to the back of the queue, because there is only a handful of us,” he said.

“My heart goes out to the communities that are affected because we were part of the problem. Me and my colleagues, we’re the ones who poured this s*** into the environment. Our job is to protect life, the environment and property. Inadvertently, we’ve done the opposite. The best thing we can do now is make sure this gets cleaned up.”

Airservices fireys are fighting for free blood tests from the authority.

Katherine Mayor Fay Miller

A small scale study conducted in 2013 showed many had highly elevated PFAS levels in their blood. The firefighter said that study could be used as a benchmark to test if they were continuing to be exposed to the chemicals or if levels were dropping.

An Airservices Australia spokeswoman said the authority had not received a “formal” request from its staff for blood tests, and that a new staff health program was being considered, which could include blood testing.

Talks are ongoing between Defence and Airservices Australia to finally stop the use of Ansulite on its bases.

RESIDENTS in Katherine fear this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Values of properties within the contamination zones in Oakey and Williamtown have been in free fall since the discovery of PFAS in the water supply and there are fears the same will happen in Katherine and affected pockets of Darwin.

But their biggest concern is the potential impact on their health and the health of their families.

Even though they claim there is no consistent evidence PFAS has an adverse impact on human health, Defence has taken the precautionary step of flying in a water treatment plant from the United States.

Lawyers are circling. Hundreds have expressed interest in a class action in Katherine, while another is in the works for Darwin. Others have been lodged for residents in Oakey and Katherine.

So far Defence has refused to buy back PFAS affected properties. Legal action could be the only way residents receive compensation.

It took 12 months of lobbying by Katherine residents for Defence to offer a $5.7 million support package for the town, similar to that which was offered to east coast towns months ago. It will include voluntary blood testing, counselling services and an epidemiological study.

Merlyn Smith has spent almost her entire life in Katherine.

She remembers going to community events where PFAS foams were sprayed all over her and the other children in town. The thought now made her “sick to the stomach.

But what frightens her more is the potential impacts on her kids Joshua, 10, and Alkhem, 21 months.

“It’s in my taps, it’s in my shower, it’s everywhere. I’m scared about what I exposed my children to,” she said.

A self-described “helicopter parent” Ms Smith said she was careful not to feed her kids sugar or junk foods. The thought the water could have done more damage than sugar or McDonalds could ever have done terrified her.

“I breastfed through both my pregnancies. We deserve to know what’s in our water,” she said.