Orange City Council has welcomed the decision by national health authorities to put new draft PFAS guidelines for drinking water out for community comment.
WATER: National health authorities are asking the community about plans to improve drinking water standards when it comes to 'forever chemical' PFAS.
In short: Health authorities are floating the idea of tighter drinking water standards, due to concerns about PFAS.
PFAS is a 'forever chemical' that has been used in fertilisers, carpet, paint, non-stick frying pans, make-up and clothing.
What's next: Routine testing in Orange shows PFAS level is below the guidelines required in the US.
The Australian Government's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) this week released new guidelines which would make the Australian Drinking Water Standards better reflect tougher US regulations.
Orange City Council has routinely tested treated drinking water samples in an independent laboratory since 2018 in line with the current Australian standards for PFAS and all results have been below the guidelines.
Because of a growing industry understanding that the Australian PFAS guidelines were under review, Orange City Council also recently sent drinking water samples for analysis in line with the US standards. These results were also below the US levels and the draft guideline levels proposed by the NHMRC for use in Australia.
Council will send those results to the NHMRC during the public consultation period.
Orange Mayor Cr Tony Mileto has welcomed the decision to review Australia's drinking water standards.
"It makes sense in the light of growing community awareness of the PFAS problem, that national authorities take a closer look at the science and compare what other countries are doing," Cr Tony Mileto said.
"Orange City Council has a long track record of delivering water for the community that meets Australian drinking water standards."
"There's a growing community understanding that PFAS is an 'everywhere chemical' that has been used in fertilisers, carpet, paint, non-stick frying pans, make-up, clothing and many other products. Even so I was pleased to learn that results for Orange's drinking water show PFAS is already below the levels required by the draft new tougher Australian standards.
"The important thing is that the Orange community can have confidence with the drinking water that's supplied by Council."
