Published: 19 December 2024

Mathew Hatcher is raising his glass – tap water all the way – to cheer test results showing Eurobodalla’s drinking water is clear of harmful PFAS.

PFAS - per-and-poly-fluoroalkyl substances – hit the news in August with drinking water from several locations around Sydney shown to have elevated levels of the contaminants. The Eurobodalla Mayor says most people would be more familiar with them as ‘forever chemicals’.

“PFAS are a group of synthetic chemicals that have been around since the 1950s and used in everyday products – clothing, furniture, make-up, food packaging, non-stick pans, firefighting foam, cleaning products – to repel oil, stains or water,” Mayor Hatcher says.

“They can take thousands of years to break down and they gradually accumulate in the environment and in the bodies of animals, including humans, due to exposure through water, air, food and skin contact.”

There are many different forms of PFAS, and potential health issues from high concentrations of some PFAS include high cholesterol, hormone disruption and cancer.

Following the media furore, the NSW Government offered one-off water-supply testing to regional councils, with Mayor Hatcher confirming Eurobodalla opted-in for the free testing.

“Our water supply had not been tested previously, so we had both the northern and southern sections of our water supply system checked. I am happy to report our drinking water has tested clear of PFAS,” he says.

Eurobodalla’s northern water supply was tested in late October and analysed by Sydney Water for 45 different PFAS, coming back clear with no detectable levels. Testing of the southern water supply was delayed until that system came online in November, and during that time high demand on the testing laboratory saw the NSW Government reduce the number of PFAS tested to five representative chemicals. Regardless, testing of the southern water supply also came back clear with no detectable levels of PFAS.

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