Health risks from years of neglect over PFAS testing

Long-time community advocate for the environment, Gary Blaschke of Lake Munmorah, says he finds it “totally repulsive, if not criminal”, that the NSW Environment Protection Authority has taken so long to declare the former Munmorah Power Station site as significantly contaminated and to announce that a clean-up will start.

“It’s been years of neglect and cover-ups by consecutive governments,” he said.

“They have ignored my complaints since 2017 and now in 2024 the complaints have come to fruition.

“(Being) unhappy is an understatement.”

Generator Property Management (GPM) and Snowy Hydro advised the EPA that PFAS had been detected in the soil, surface water and groundwater at and around Munmorah and Colongra power stations in February 2015.

The EPA did not respond until October 2015.

An initial study was completed in May 2016, and in December 2016 the EPA reported to a Contaminated Site Review that information received was under assessment.

In October 2017, it called for additional testing from Snowy Hydro and GPM, but that testing did not get underway until April 2018, more than three years after it was first reported.

Blaschke said that in September 2017 EPA contacted him to discuss that they had found PFAS (per-and poly-fluoroalkyl) substances in Lake Munmorah and Colongra Bay.

“They said they would conduct a series of fish tests to see the extent of the contamination problem, especially in the lakes as PFAS can contaminate seafood and/or drinking water, as well as sampling in areas around the power station,” he said.

An EPA report indicated that studies conducted were looking at impacts on cholesterol levels, male hormones, heart disease, liver changes and other effects including cancer.

“To date, the community has not seen nor been privy to the findings,” Blaschke said.

He said a fact sheet on testing of seafood in the Tuggerah lakes system released by the EPA in December 2018 disclosed that contaminated groundwater was generally moving towards the centre of Munmorah and Colongra sites, meaning that exposure to PFAS from groundwater was limited.

“I find it alarming that the EPA then went on to say that there was no current evidence to suggest an increase in overall health risks related to PFAS exposure,” he said.

“In July 2019 an EPA media release stated that Tuggerah lakes had been given the all clear after PFAS testing, which was obviously flawed with what we now know in 2024.

“PFAS, the forever chemicals, are flowing down the channels into the Tuggerah lakes system, (with) Lake Munmorah taking 520 days to circulate, 460 days for Budgewoi Lake and 220 days for Tuggerah Lake.

“The cumulative impacts must be devastating for both the environment and human health alike.”

The EPA says that seafood from the Tuggerah Lakes system remains safe, but PFAS has been located within and at the end of the canals at Munmorah and Colongra power stations.

“Adding to the problem, we now have a recent development application being submitted to Central Coast Council for a water treatment plant, being simply a PFAS treatment plant which will operate for the next 10 years if approved,” Blaschke said.

“To make things worse, proposals for a complete new suburb at Doyalson with over-50s housing, a residential subdivision, childcare and medical centre, fast food outlets and a service station, which will be sandwiched between the Munmorah PFAS and coal ash dump and the Vales Point coal ash dam which has potentially caused many chronic health and environmental issues for the region.”

(See Forum section at https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/forum/ for Gary Blaschke’s Letter to the Editor)

Sue Murray