Speaking up at select committee on PFAS

The water industry has come together to address the Commonwealth Select Committee on PFAS at a hearing in Penrith.

On Wednesday, 22 January 2025, the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) Executive Director Adam Lovell appeared at the Commonwealth Select Committee on PFAS public hearing in Penrith, alongside WaterNSW and Sydney Water. The comments have been widely reported in the media.

Lovell told the hearing that while the water sector will do everything necessary to comply with the guidelines, controlling PFAS at the primary source will have the most significant impact.

“We are deeply concerned about the PFAS levels that are allowed to enter the country through thousands of everyday household and industrial chemicals and products. It is increasingly difficult and more costly to manage PFAS contamination throughout the water cycle, in more and more catchments,” said Lovell.

“Controlling PFAS at the primary source costs the water sector and our customers nothing.

Lovell stated the WSAA recommendations to the Senate Committee:

Banning or severely restricting PFAS in non-essential consumer products – we need to reduce how much PFAS exists in the environment; prevention is always better than cure
Mandatory labelling and disclosure requirements – so that consumers can reduce their PFAS exposure
Develop a National Contaminants Strategy – to coordinate all the players and activity. We believe this could be supported by Environment Protection Australia
Assist remote and First Nations communities in understanding what levels of PFAS exist in their water services by using National Water Grid science funding
Set aside significant funding for research and innovation for the removal and destruction of PFAS in drinking water, wastewater and biosolids

Lovell also showed a graphic that depicts PFAS levels in everyday products like paint, cosmetics and textiles.

“This chart shows how much PFAS is entering the Australian environment and the scale of the challenge,” Mr Lovell said.

The hearing also heard from Professor Stuart Khan, Dr Ian Wright and Dr Nicholas Chartres in an earlier round table session. This session covered a range of issues from the methodology for the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) guideline-setting process and testimony from community members impacted by PFAS, including a dairy farmer, a representative of the Hawkesbury community, and activist Jon Dee who has formed the STOP PFAS group in the Blue Mountains.

A recurrent theme throughout the day was source control – with many speakers urging the government to adopt far greater controls on PFAS entering the country through household and industrial products.

WSAA developed this graphic to highlight that PFAS comes from everyday sources but becomes expensive and complex for the water sector to manage if it is not managed at the primary source.

Over the five-hour hearing, the Committee covered a wide range of issues, including water quality monitoring and reporting nationally, how advanced treatment processes like Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) work, and discussion of the US EPA guideline levels (which some see as world-leading, others as overly simplistic).

WaterNSW outlined its risk assessment processes and investigations into the cause of PFAS at Medlow and Greaves Creek dams. Sydney Water detailed its installation of GAC at the Cascades Water Filtration Plant and noted that Sydney Water is complying with all current Australian Drinking Water Guidelines in all its drinking water supply systems. The installation of the new treatment unit also complies with the draft guidelines released by the NHMRC in October 2024.

The water panel proactively raised the issue of biosolids and outlined the processes of beneficial reuse that provide valuable ecological and economic benefits. WSAA quoted an American estimate from the Australia New Zealand Biosolids Partnership (Item 53 from the list) that it costs around $150 to buy a kilogram of PFAS, but treating that same kilogram of PFAS in the wastewater system costs between $4 and $25 million—a clear argument for primary source control.

Later in the day, the NHMRC was interviewed and outlined its processes, including consideration of overseas and other data inputs. It confirmed that it expects to release the final Australian Drinking Water Guidelines PFAS levels in April 2025.

Another interesting point of discussion raised by the NSW EPA was the difficulty of risk and science communications on a complex and emotive topic.

WSAA was asked to provide a follow-up submission detailing an overview of nationwide monitoring and potential water and wastewater treatment costs.

The full transcript and audio recording will be published here.