PFAS is ‘below’ health guidelines

Oakey aquifer water treated

THE Department of Defence says levels of PFAS contamination at the Oakey Army Aviation Centre aquifer are now “well below” recommended health guidelines.

A spokesperson for the department said 26,205,000 litres of water had been treated by Defence since a treatment plant at the centre became operational in September 2017.

“Defence has installed a water treatment plant at the Army Aviation Centre Oakey to treat some per- and poly-fluo-roalkyl substances (PFAS) source areas on base,” the spokesperson said.

“The plant extracts contaminated groundwater from a bore near the former fire station and filters this water through a regenerable synthetic resin with ion exchange functionality.

“The treated water is then reinjected into the aquifer to reduce the amount of contamination leaving the base. There is currently no planned end date for operations.”

The spokesperson said the plant treated three types of PFAS - PFOS, PFOA and PFHxS - which had a healthbased guidance value.

“The water treatment plant has extracted PFOS, PFOA and PFHxS to below the limit of reporting, this means that, if any of these substances remain in the treated water, the concentration is too small to be reliably detected by laboratories,” the spokesperson said.

“The limit of reporting is well below the health-based guidance values for drinking and recreational water use.”

The spokesperson said PFAS had affected some bores within the management area.

“Defence has provided alternative water sources to properties that rely on these bores for drinking water,” they said.

“As a long-term solution, Defence offered to fund connections to the town water network for all affected properties. A total of 36 properties have accepted the offer.”

A parliamentary inquiry is examining the management of PFAS contamination around Defence bases.