Foam may not be only pollutant
A farmer who once lived beside Marlborough’s air force base is calling for tests for other chemicals beyond the firefighting foam that has leached into domestic water supplies.
Gordon Appleton tried to sue the Defence Force in 2002 for dumping chemicals near his farm, to the east of Base Woodbourne, near Blenheim. Evidence proved the base allowed jet fuel, oil and solvents to leach into the ground in the 1980s and 1990s, though a judge ruled there was no proof those chemicals had travelled to Appleton’s farm through the underground aquifer.
But 15 years later the defence force has accepted responsibility for firefighting foam chemicals PFAS turning up in the wells of neighbouring properties, and even Blenheim’s municipal town water supply.
Appleton said the All-ofGovernment programme testing private wells around defence force bases should also be testing for the other chemicals dumped at Woodbourne. ‘‘There were thousands of litres of chemicals being poured into that pit, and it was leftover drums of whatever they could find.
‘‘There were paint stripping products, surfactants ... it makes a super-cocktail of toxic chemicals flowing through the aquifer,’’ Appleton said. ‘‘Why aren’t they testing for those other chemicals? Because when the results come out, house prices and land values in that area are going to plummet.’’
The latest round of tests on private wells near Blenheim, released last week, showed toxic firefighting foam chemicals were still present underground, even though the chemicals were banned due to their toxicity in 2006.
The per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) also showed up in the municipal Blenheim town supply, at levels well below interim drinking water guidelines, in April but two rounds of testing have since come back clear.
PFAS were used to fight jet fires and in training exercises at the base.
But the chemicals leached into the ground and into the aquifer that fed private wells downstream of the base, used by some residents as drinking water, and others for irrigation and stock watering. As countries around the world started to raise concerns about the ‘‘emerging contaminant’’, the Defence Force started testing wells and streams around affected bases in December last year.
The chemicals were detected in 22 private wells near Woodbourne, with two of those at levels considered unsafe for drinking.
Samples collected in May have now been revealed, showing 43 per cent of the 159 wells tested had traces of the chemicals. People were drinking from 62 of those wells but again the levels were below interim guidelines.
The Ministry for the Environment, the lead agency in the All-ofGovernment PFAS Programme, said the third round of testing confirmed there was no significant public health risk. Ministry chief operating officer Claire Richardson said the programme was still providing alternative water supplies to affected households as a precautionary measure.