Call for water testing around landfill site

The Community Environment Network (CEN) is calling for immediate water testing on all creeks surrounding the Mangrove Mountain landfill site.

CEN wants the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to conduct immediate testing for Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) following Central Coast Council’s revelation that PFAS had been found in a raw (untreated) water sample in Ourimbah Creek.

“Given the fact that Ourimbah Creek is part of the Central Coast’s drinking water supply catchment, the revelation that PFAS has been detected immediately sounds a loud alarm that this may be related to the Mangrove Mountain landfill,” CEN Chair Gary Chestnut said.

“According to the EPA’s website, as part of the authority’s commitment to transparency and safeguarding the environment, ‘the EPA is regularly undertaking compliance inspections and is reviewing the Environment Protection Licence to ensure that it provides effective measures to monitor the environmental impact of the site’.

“The EPA says it conducts inspections of the landfill to assess the management of water and leachate; it says staff from the EPA and Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) have conducted sampling of Ourimbah Creek and its tributaries over several years.

“The most recent sampling was conducted by the EPA and DCCEEW in February 2024 but it appears the water was not tested for PFAS at that time.

“Given the outcome of testing conducted by Central Coast Council, it is imperative that all creeks surrounding the landfill – Hallards Creek, Stringy Bark Creek, Ourimbah Creek and the unnamed creek that flows directly under the landfill mass – must be tested regularly for PFAS.

“It will soon be 12 months since Verde Terra discontinued its appeals in the Land and Environment Court against judgements that said that it was required to lodge a development application with a supporting Environmental Impact Statement if it wished to continue any landfill operations at the site.

“It is over 12 years since the legal proceedings about the development consent regarding the redevelopment of the golf course started for the Central Coast community, who continue to live with the unapproved, unlined landfill and its uncontrolled leachate at the top of our water supply catchment.”

Chestnut said residents living downstream of the testing site deserve to be made aware of the risks.

“The EPA has been complicit in the travesty of this landfill,” he said.

“It amended the operators’ Environmental Protection Licence 12 times in breach of the NSW Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1995.

“Over the life of that landfill, when the operator breached the conditions of its licence, rather than enforce, the EPA simply amended the licence to accommodate the breach.

“If there are PFAS in our water catchment and the source is the landfill the EPA is directly responsible.”

Chestnut said if PFAS are detected in the creeks the EPA must work to immediately remediate the site and deliver a solution to keep the region’s drinking water safe.

A spokesperson for the NSW Environment Protection Authority said Central Coast Council had recently notified the Authority about low-level PFAS detects in raw water sampling done in the Ourimbah Creek and surrounding waterways.

“They are now conducting an investigation into the presence of PFAS in the catchment,” the spokesperson said.

“The EPA is working with the Council to support them in their investigation.

“We will continue to monitor licensed facilities of concern and have completed additional water sampling at the Mangrove Mountain landfill and in adjacent waterways in the week since the Council reported their findings.

“We will provide an update on EPA’s water sampling results for Ourimbah Creek and surrounding waterways as soon as they are available. 

“We have increased our sampling at the landfill to better understand the quality of surface water on-site and in the adjacent waterway.

“The Mangrove Mountain landfill ceased operation in 2014 and since then, we have conducted regular inspections and water sampling at the site.

“We also engage the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water to undertake water sampling of the nearby Ourimbah Creek and its tributaries and sampling conducted in 2024 did not indicate the landfill was adversely impacting the waterways.

“We have also recently completed a statutory five-yearly review of the landfill’s Environment Protection Licence and are now working with the owners to strengthen licence conditions and reduce the risk of pollution to the surrounding area.”

Terry Collins