Concentrations above safety guidelines of the difficult-to-breakdown compounds were found at the Western Mines Rescue Station on Proto Avenue last year. Monitoring of the site is ongoing. 

An international Fairfax Media investigation published on the weekend into the effects of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl [PFAS] chemicals has unearthed “cancer clusters” near the Williamtown airport base – where the chemicals were used as fire retardants – and near the 3M plant in Minnesota where the chemicals were produced.

Fairfax Media also reported on a court settlement between 3M and the state of Minnesota, in which the state alleged the company had misled scientists about the presence of PFAS in human blood as well as undermined studies into the chemicals’ effect on health. 

In Australia, the Environment Protection Authority rates PFAS an “emerging contaminant [meaning] their ecological and/or human health effects are unclear”. 

NSW Health says “there is no conclusive evidence that PFASs cause any specific illnesses, including cancer”.

Last year, the Lithgow Mercury reported concentrations of PFAS beyond human and ecological guidelines were found in groundwater and surface water at Lithgow’s Mines Rescue site. 

Western Coal Services has maintained the presence of PFAS is of “low risk to the community”, as the likelihood of residents ingesting groundwater or surface water from the site is low. 

“At Lithgow, the community around the station has access to reticulated drinking water and it’s unlikely that the PFAS within the ground water, surface water, soil or sediment, both on and off site, is ingested,” Western Coal Services spokesperson Belinda Ward said. 

However, a summary report by GHD, the environmental consultancy firm that completed the testing, noted a bore registered for domestic use located 650 metres north of the site, the direction the groundwater would be expected to flow.

GHD recommended further groundwater and surface water monitoring to track the movement and concentration PFAS off the site, and, depending on those results, a survey of household use of groundwater in proximity to Proto Avenue. 

“PFAS may be migrating off site at concentrations above the drinking water criteria,” the report stated.

Ms Ward said the owner of the bore had not been contacted by Western Coal Services.  

“Mines Rescue’s next phase of testing will include discussions with local personnel to better understand potential ground water use and installation of up to three ground water wells offsite to the north to better understand groundwater flow and what might be leaving the Mines Rescue Lithgow site,” she said. 

“We will engage with the relevant property owner as and when appropriate during our next testing phase.”

She said Western Coal Services’ actions would continue be guided by the PFAS National Environmental Management Plan released in January, the EPA and the national PFAS Expert Health Panel. 

“Importantly, the panel concluded there is ‘no current evidence that suggests an increase in overall cancer risk’,” Ms Ward said. 

Fire fighting foam containing PFAS has not been used at the site since 2002, Ms Ward said. 

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