Farmers not told about risk

Farmers near the Ohakea air force base say they were kept in the dark about potential water contamination risks from chemicals in a firefighting foam.

The foam was frequently used in firefighting exercises at the air base until 2002, when its use was stopped because of concerns about two chemicals, PFOS and PFOA.

Officials knew there could be a problem in some water supplies as early as 2015, but the Government has only recently been forthcoming with information and communication to people in the area has been patchy.

Bruce Conlan, who owns a farm on the south side of Ohakea, said he wasn’t told about the contamination risk. Instead, he was forced to rely on a letter sent to his parents, who run the farm next door.

‘‘It didn’t explain much anyway, and there was nothing about what the effect might be on my stock.’’

Conlan said it was particularly frustrating because he’d run into officials testing the stream behind his farm in September.

‘‘They said it was a random water-quality test. But, you don’t do random tests for no reason.’’

He made dozens of calls to district councils and government agencies trying to find out why, without luck.

Federated Farmers Manawatu¯ president Richard Morrison said Conlan wasn’t the only affected farmer not to get a letter, and he had spoken to more. That included a farmer who hadn’t been notified despite having a stream that collects runoff from Ohakea running right alongside their property.

‘‘[We] don’t mind if there’s a problem. But, if there is we need to know, and the Government need to take responsibility and get it fixed.’’

Tests for PFOS and PFOA on milk produced from farms neighbouring Ohakea had already been carried out, and none was detected above reporting limits.

The Government is approaching affected landowners about carrying out further water testing on their properties. Results are expected by mid-january.

Manawatu¯ District Council infrastructure manager Hamish Waugh said there was no sign of wider contamination in Manawatu¯ , beyond the 60 properties near the Ohakea air base.

Defence forces around the world have found PFOS and PFOA contamination in soil and groundwater around their firefighting practice areas.

Information provided by the Ministry for the Environment showed the Defence Force got the first results from Ohakea’s practice area in April 2015. But Environment Minister David Parker has said the Government was only brought into the loop in August.

Ministry spokesman Laurie Edwards said test results in September indicated the potential for PFOS or PFOA to move beyond the Ohakea base boundary, which led to the current round of testing.

The Defence Force directed questions about what was done in that two-year gap back to the ministry.

Last December, News.com.au reported the Australian Department of Defence was investigating 18 sites around Australia where groundwater was believed to be potentially contaminated by the toxic firefighting foams.

One was the Williamtown air force base in New South Wales. A Fairfax Media investigation found at least 39 people who lived nearby developed cancer.

However, the ministry says New Zealand’s situation is on a much smaller scale, both for the area affected and the concentration of the chemicals.